Like any mediator or conflict coach, I sometimes despair over the state of public discourse, and how divided the populace seems to be on just about any substantive issue.
In 1996, Lawrence Susskind & Patrick Field published Dealing with an Angry Public, in which they first noted "concerns about the distrustful attitudes that citizens have toward
government and corporations, and the inability of these institutions to
respond to public concerns in a robust, inclusive and effective way."
In response, the authors put forth a number of principles to regain public trust:
1- acknowledge the concerns of the other side;
2- encourage joint fact finding;
3- offer contingent commitments to minimize impacts if they do occur;
4- promise to compensate unintended effects;
5- accept responsibility;
6- admit mistakes;
7- share power;
8- at in a trustworthy fashion at all times; and
9- focus on building long-term relationships.
These principles are simple to state but likely difficult to achieve continuously in the long run. The authors effectively acknowledge this in a recent article, Dealing with an Angrier Public, ACResolution Su. 2012. They have observed success in applying these principles to "hundreds if not thousands" of discrete cases over the years, but they admit their "desire to spur a different kinds of public discourse has not panned out" and the successes have "been sporadic and to often invisible or ineffective."
Nonetheless, they argue that the need for application of the mutual gain or "angry public" principles has never been greater. They specifically identify three reasons the public is angrier than ever: 1) distrust of science and expertise as a neutral foundation for policy making; 2) the steady erosion of any sense of public engagement or community; and 3) sharp declines in economic security combined with wide shifts in national demographics.
Notwithstanding these challenging sources of public anger and distrust, they believe the principles of the mutual gains framework are still highly relevant, but they argue that the way the principles are used must be expanded "to address the rage that characterizes most public discourse today."
How to do that is, of course, the crux of the biscuit. They indicated they intended to explore that in the Fall 2012 issue of ACResolution, but I have not seen that article.
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you are interested in mediation, conflict coaching, or other ADR services, please contact Pilar
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