Conflict Moderation with Liberating Structures

The Background

What?

A few months ago, when I was still relatively fresh in my current job, I was asked to moderate a conflict between two people at short notice. I didn’t have much time to prepare and I didn’t have a wide range of experience from my previous professional experience to fall back on. I remembered the core ideas that were important in this situation: separating facts from emotions, active listening, empathy and negotiating compromises.

So What?

A short time before, I just held a retrospective with “What? So What? Now What?” from the repertoire of Liberating Structures, which exactly address the assumptions mentioned above. I thought that what works in a group could also be used to structure a conflict moderation.

Now What?

Since I didn’t have much time to look for possible alternatives, I went to the meeting with a few introductory questions and a possible schedule for the interview.

The Facilitation

What?

I first had both participants describe the conflicting situation objectively from their own point of view. The other had to listen. As a moderator, I played the main part in showing empathy, enabling active listening with comprehension questions and making misunderstandings transparent.

So What?

Next, I asked both participants to describe how they felt in the conflict situation and which behaviour they would have liked the other to adopt. In this situation as well, concrete comprehension questions for active listening helped to achieve a better understanding on the other side.

Now What?

Now that we had clarified the situation and the feelings, it was possible to discuss joint agreements for future cooperation. At the end of the discussion, the parties left the meeting with a handful of agreements that will ease their further cooperation.

The Conclusion

What?

The conflict moderation showed me that Liberating Structures like “What? So What? Now What?” can also work very well in dialogue and as moderation techniques in small groups.
In the preparation of the moderation it was also useful to follow the order data collection -> conclusion -> measure.

So What?

I was very pleased that the discussion progressed as I had hoped. In addition, the experience has shown me that I can rely on my intuition, that the first thought is usually the best and that courage pays off.
In addition, I learned that I can improvise quite well and that Liberating Structures can also be applied successfully without having to invest a lot of time in the preparation of the invitation and the construction of a string (sequence of several Liberating Structures in succession).

Now What?

On the basis of this experience, I have come up with the following actions:

1. Be even bolder!
2. Liberating Structures simply work!
3. I would like to continuously improve my routine with Liberating Structures, so that I can even spontaneously draw from the largest possible repertoire of methods.
4. “What? So What? Now What?” to be used in individual coaching as well.