Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution-- Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to talk about how we can help parties distinguish their positions from their interests.
And so let's look at first here are key terms to look out for. They're interest and position. So our interest is an action belief or physical item that a party perceives as important or essential to his or her satisfaction or happiness. So here it's what we need to feel fulfilled. That's what our interest is.
Whereas, a position is a particular way of getting an interest met, but not necessarily the only way of getting that interest met. So our positions are based upon our interests. And they are one way to get that interest met, but it is not the only way.
At first, positions and interests can be a little confusing. It was for me at first when I started learning this. And so the way that I like to look at it is, a position is what we say we want, so what we verbally state that we need. And our interest are those underlying reasons why we want what we say we want.
Let's look at some examples to clarify a little bit further. So two people have the same position in this scenario. And both of them say, I have to have the car today, giving no other explanation besides that. So that's their position.
And the first person's interest, so those underlying reasons why, is I need the car so I can get to work. I need to get to work so I can make money to support the family.
Whereas the second person's interest for wanting the car is because I need the car so I can go to my study group. I need to go to the study group because I'm struggling in my classes.
So here, position is what they stated that they want. And the interest are those underlying reasons why.
Another example could be a position such as, you have to turn that work report into me by 3:00 PM today. So somebody says that to you at work, you maybe think it's a little confusing or pretty abrupt. But they don't give you those underlying reasons why.
And so this person's interest for wanting the report at 3:00 is, I had to have all the reports by 3:00 PM today so I have enough time to compile all of the data into the big report that is due on Friday at 5:00 PM.
So here we are, again, position stating what they want. And those interests are the underlying reasons why they say they want.
Now looking at positions in conflict resolution, parties can often confuse their positions with their interests. And this happens when they have a tunnel vision approach to it. So they're just focusing on that one position straight ahead, not looking at their peripheral visions where the interests are probably lying there.
So we need to let the parties know that their position is really only one way of meeting their interest. And so we need to ask those underlying questions why they have stated what they wanted, and go from there. Maybe we can uncover some other possible solutions to move away from those positions and focus more on the interests.
So now that we've gone over positions and interests, let's look at our key points. So our interests are what we need to feel satisfied. And our positions are based upon our interests. And they are just one way of getting our needs or interests met.
And parties can often in conflict confuse their positions with their interests. So we really need to ask those underlying questions or reasons why so we can uncover those interests, and really focused on those more closely to come up with other possible solutions outside of their stated position.
Well, that's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for taking the time out to view this tutorial. I really hope that you've learned something. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.