Source: Margerum, Richard D. Author of: Beyond Consensus: Improving Collaborative Planning & Management MIT Press Overview  Communication concepts –Active Listening –Forms of expression  Exercise  Debrief and discuss

Source: Margerum, Richard D. Author of: Beyond Consensus: Improving Collaborative Planning & Management MIT Press Four Steps in Active Listening  Listening with questions: paraphrase, clarify and provide feedback  Listening with empathy: recognize their views may come from personal experience  Listening with openness: try putting yourself in their shoes to understand what they are saying  Listening with awareness: compare message with knowledge and their body language

Source: Margerum, Richard D. Author of: Beyond Consensus: Improving Collaborative Planning & Management MIT Press Four Kinds of Expression  Observation: reporting what your senses or experiences tell you  Thoughts: conclusions or inferences drawn from what you have heard, read or observed  Feelings: how you are personally affected by something or someone  Needs: expressions of what you personally need without assigning blame or fault

Source: Margerum, Richard D. Author of: Beyond Consensus: Improving Collaborative Planning & Management MIT Press Exercise 1.Form into groups 2.Today’s difficult discussion topic: 3.Practice techniques: –Everyone must try: “What I hear you saying is…” –Listen with empathy—even if you don’t agree –Be clear whether you are stating observations, thoughts, feelings or needs

Source: Margerum, Richard D. Author of: Beyond Consensus: Improving Collaborative Planning & Management MIT Press Discussion  Exercise –How did your group do? –How did the techniques work? –What difficulties did you encounter  Final tips

Source: Margerum, Richard D. Author of: Beyond Consensus: Improving Collaborative Planning & Management MIT Press Sending Messages Effectively  Clearly own your messages  Make your messages complete and specific  Make verbal and non-verbal messages congruent  Be redundant  Get feedback on how your messages are received  Make message appropriate for the receiver  Describe your feelings  Describe others’ behavior without interpreting

Source: Margerum, Richard D. Author of: Beyond Consensus: Improving Collaborative Planning & Management MIT Press Receiving Messages Effectively  Paraphrase accurately without evaluation  Describe what you perceive to be their feelings  State your interpretation