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23 May 2019, Panama City, Panama - UNITAR office in New York continued developing skills for Central American diplomats, this time with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama from 23 - 24 May 2019 with a training for the development of leadership and strengthening negotiation techniques. The workshop was held at the Diplomatic Academy of Panama, in Panama City. The course opened with the remarks of Ambassador Darío Chirú Ochoa, Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Panama, Dr. Alexander Lopez and Mr. Pelayo Alvarez, Programme Coordinator and representative of UNITAR New York Office. After a warm welcome, Dr. Aldo Civico, Associate Professor at Columbia and Director of The Civico Group and Dr. Guido Bertucci, Director of Governance International Solutions continued with the facilitation of the workshop.
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Dr. Civico started the first session on leadership explaining how, in order to change conflict resolution and the quality of our communication, it is needed to consciously create a focus on the reality and experience that we want to portray since the quality of our emotions will have a direct effect in the quality of our problem-solving skills.
Using his experience during the Colombia Peace Process Conflict Dr. Civico explained how he understood then that conflict cannot be avoided. In his experience, since desk reviews and discussions were not being successful, he convinced the different stakeholders to cook Italian pasta together, Dr. Civico showcased this is an example of how to change the dynamics of the conflict by reconnecting from a human level.
People’s identities cannot be changed radically, since they are connected with their inner core, and must be taken into account during conflict resolution. Dr. Civico analyzed the human inner core to understand the different variables we have to be aware of when conflict strikes. He then left a question to the audience: How can we adapt our inner core; our thoughts, beliefs, values before examining what the other brings to the negotiation table.
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This first part was followed by a debrief, where participants discussed about the different ways of communications between genders, social layers or different levels of seniority.
Dr. Civico remarked the importance of listening in the world we live in, (a vulnerable, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world), as a tool for innovation and transformation.
The first level of listening, is usually centered around our own needs and concerns, without really paying attention to what the other person is saying. During the second level of listening, we start asking questions and inquiring about us and our place in the conflict. When we start emotionally connected with our counterparts, seeing how they see the world and their situation, we will reach the third level of listening. Finally, when we get to the highest and fourth level of listening, we will be aware of everything going on in the system, made all the necessary arrangements to get to this level.
As a way of putting into practice their listening skills, participants were divided in pairs and shared moments of their lives while their partners focused on level 4 listening, that way, empathy rose, emotional connection was created, and non-verbal communication had a special place in this one-on-one encounters.
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Dr. Civico, shared how important effective communication is while solving conflicts, shifting the concept of blame during miscommunications from an external to an internal perspective its crucial so we are able to adapt to the situation and the people involved in the exchange of ideas. All parties in a conflict, will believe their actions are the best possible option and they are all searching for positive outcomes.
Another important area of negotiation, is understanding the values in place during the process. Values are usually abstract concepts, which are the foundation for human behavior, they are used to judge when our actions are correct or wrong, and also determine how we use our time. Values can change through time and differ from an area of the world to another, our culture affects our values and we should take note of them while preparing for the interaction with other stakeholders. Concurrently, participants shared in pairs, activities they liked and activities they did not enjoy doing, while their partner, after carefully listening, tried to convince them how to enjoy more the activities they disliked, by connecting them with the activities they did like.
For the closure of the workshop, Dr. Civico explored the theory of needs, and how all humans look for security, variety, meaning, connection, development and input. Participants expressed with a word how they felt about the workshop and each of them mentioned something they had learnt before the wrap up of the day.
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For the second part of the workshop Dr. Guido Bertucci, launched the first session with a brainstorming exercise on Panama’s city main problem; traffic congestion. In groups, each person used paper cards to write down as many solutions as they could think of, using only their personal ideas. After 10 minutes they could start using the used cards from their colleagues to think of more solutions and continue the brainstorming. With this exercise, Dr. Bertucci wanted to showcase how important is to include different perspective while trying to solve a conflict, since every stakeholder will bring a different aspect that could get us closer to the solution of the issues.
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The following hands on exercise, also in groups, required participants to evaluate the order of the actions to be taken when two companies merge together. After deciding the order they personally thought they would follow, they had to negotiate with the rest of the group and come up with a 1 to 15 list of the necessary steps. The exercise aims to explore their negotiation techniques and improve how they negotiate. Once the correct order was explained by the facilitator, each participant got a score, based on how good they did individually compared to how many points they got as a group.
Dr. Bertucci went through the necessary steps for preparing a negotiation as a team thinking the objectives and priorities of the negotiation team and taking into account the strengths of the team members, is a necessary first step. Coordination meetings to discuss items to be discussed during the negotiation, choosing a facilitator to lead the team and stablishing the timing for each topic would be also very important.
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Then the participants were assigned to represent either Tulia, Abad or the mediator Agency in a “mock” negotiation for an international conflict. The exercise guided by Dr. Bertucci aimed to put in practice all the knowledge and skills acquired during these two days. Each group went through a private coordination meeting to prepare the actual negotiation with the other parties. During this time participants studied all potential consequences of the conflict, including military, domestic and international issues of the country’s politics. After selecting a facilitator which would represent the group, the parties recreated a real negotiation, taking breaks to discuss and plan their strategy, and using the mediators to co-create an agreement stating the conditions of the resolved dispute.