How do we resolve conflict, and get to YES
August 6, 2012 
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As mothers we are often called upon to keep the peace or more importantly to resolve the conflict that presents itself, a fight over toys, the boundaries pushed by teenagers over time to be home curfews and more. It’s a path we all identify with and I’m sure many of us has a tale or two to tell here. My mother has always said that the world would be a different place if there was a grandmother’s council, who thought about our children and their children. How true this is. So when a friend of mine shared this TED Talk about a universally applicable method for negotiating personal and professional disputes without getting taken – and without getting angry, I was intrigued and I thought it an appropriate share to begin our week. ENJOY!
Getting to YES offers a concise, step-by-step, proven strategy for coming to mutually acceptable agreements in every sort of conflict – whether it involves parents and children, neighbors, bosses and employees, customers or corporations, tenants or diplomats. Based on the work of the Harvard Negotiation Project, a group that deals continually with all levels of negotiations and conflict resolutions from domestic to business to international,
In this TED Talk William Ury, author of “Getting to Yes,” offers an elegant, simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations — from family conflict to, perhaps, the Middle East. How do you end war and conflict? By finding a different story to share. It is a fabulous and inspiring video on the power of a story. Perfect for inspiration. Story sharing has been recognized as one of the most effective tools in peace and social justice work.
William Ury talks here about his work negotiating peace in world conflicts and how choosing a different story can make all the difference in the world. If Ury can do this on a global scale, surely we can take lessons here and apply it to our organizational conflicts, and conflicts in our personal lives.
He focuses on the psychology of negotiation in a method, “principled negotiation,” that aims to find acceptable solutions by determining which needs are fixed and which are flexible for negotiators
Here’s some principled negotiation tips to try at home:
- Separate the people from the problem
- Focus on interests, not positions
- Work together to create opinions that will satisfy both parties
- Negotiate successfully with people who are more powerful, refuse to play by the rules, or resort to “dirty tricks”
I hope this video inspire will inspire you to new heights in your storytelling for your social good or social justice project.
