Hi, I'm Julie Tietz. And welcome to Conflict Resolution-- putting the pieces together. Today, we're going to talk about understanding the importance of determining parties' interests within a conflict resolution process.
So when we're in a conflict resolution process, the parties are going to have each their own interests. There may be some join interests in there. But for the most part, they are going to have their individual interests. And they are the ones that are going to determine what rank their interests are, so their level of importance. Some interests that they have may be more important than others.
So I'm going to talk about a roommate conflict here between Kevin and Jose. And so we've gone through the conflict resolution process. And we have identified each of their interests. For Kevin, his interests are to have designated quiet hours, some privacy, to be respected, and have more communication.
Jose's interests are having a cleaning schedule, feeling respected at home, having face-to-face communication. And so these are their interests. We can see that maybe some joint interests could include communication and respect.
And we're going to have the parties here prioritize which interest they find to be most important. So for Jose, it's face-to-face communication, Kevin, having some quiet hours. And so the list goes on and so forth and so until they have determined by numbers or rankings on which interest is most important. So that's one step in prioritizing the parties' interests.
Once the parties have prioritized their interests like Kevin and Jose, we then can move on to making a satisfactory agreement. And a satisfactory agreement is, again, determined by the parties. So as a conflict resolution intervener, we are not here to give our input on what a satisfactory agreement should look like for the parties.
And it's not really necessarily based on numbers. And what I mean by that is let's say we come up with an agreement. And Jose has to do a few more things than Kevin. Well, on the outside, it may appear to be imbalanced. But the parties have agreed on these certain tasks. And they find it to be satisfactory. And they feel it to be equal. So even though the numbers may be a little bit off, to the parties, it does feel equal. And that's important.
And again, it's important to prioritize their interests like we did earlier with Kevin and Jose. And this will help us to determine what needs to be put into a satisfactory agreement. And we also want to do some double checking here when we are coming up with the satisfactory agreements.
With double checking, we are asking the parties to look over all the options. So let's say we've come up with an agreement. I will ask the parties to take some time to look over all the options.
And I'm doing this in a way where I'm not having them second guess themselves necessarily or saying something like, well, are you sure that's OK, kind of implying that maybe they need to fix something in the agreement. That's not my job. I'm doing this as a way for them to double check with themselves and not infer that I think that something needs to change.
And so I may ask them is there any uncertainty here? Do there need to be any changes? And do we have any questions or clarification within our agreed-upon solutions here? So these are all really important questions that we want the parties to ask themselves.
And we want to do it in a way where we're not inferring that they need to change something. Just say it as I'm doing this as a double check for you to make sure everything looks good. And if it does, great. If we need to change something, then let's talk about it. So that's what double checking should look like.
So now that we've gone over prioritizing interests, let's go over some of our key points here. After the parties have determined their interests, it lies solely on them to prioritize their level of importance and value to them. And no one else gets to decide which of the parties' interests are the most important. It's only the parties that get to decide this.
And when an agreement is made, it may appear to be inequitable on the surface value of it. If you haven't been a part of the process, things maybe seem like one person has to do more than the other. But if the parties agree that this is OK and that to them that this is equitable, then that's the goal that we are seeking.
And the parties really are the ones that determine whether or not an agreement is fair. And again, we do this by double checking with them to make sure that everything is expressed and that everything they want is said. And if that happens, and that's satisfactory to the parties, then that is fair.
So that's all I have for you now. I really thank you for taking the time out to view this tutorial. I'm going to leave you with our two key terms here with interest and priority. Feel free to pause. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.