The Process Oriented Approach to Conflict - Part 2

The Process approach (POP) to conflict is grounded in the expansion of awareness and treats conflict as teacher and awakener - a gateway to breakthrough rather than breakdown. This article overviews some ways this is achieved. The dynamics of social conflict is often reflected holographically in the inner psychological dynamics of the personalities of those involved.  Self-awareness is as important as awareness of the social dynamic; resolving and transforming inner conflict is seen as an essential dimension of the resolution of social and systemic conflict.  Enabling the interplay between self and field awareness; between conscious and unconscious; rational and non-rational dimensions of the conflict is viewed as central to the prevention, resolution and transformation of conflict. 

Interdependence of inner-work and outer-work

For those working with conflict their own self-awareness and inner work is essential if they are to facilitate effectively.  Inner conflict, no less than social conflict, often arises from conflicting needs and interests.  The coercive and abusive use of rank and power, and resistance to such abuse contributes to inner conflict as well as it does within the social setting.  Marginalization of parts of our personalities, domination by other parts, repression, and retaliation are internal phenomena as well as social ones and can be equally damaging. 

Consciousness of the complex inter-relationship between the inner and outer enables us to find new ways of resolving and transforming conflict.  We can become aware of how we project disowned or unconscious parts of ourselves on to others in the social world and we can use our identifications with aspects of the social world to illuminate our inner conflicts.  E.g. an unconscious inner conflict between parts of my identity or sub-personalities may be projected/acted out in a conflict with work colleagues.

Likewise, efforts to fight injustice or oppression in the social world often parallel an inner battle against oppression in my personal psychological world.  Working on ones own inner oppressor can prevent a recapitulation of the oppressor role in the outer social world.  In my own experience, as is often the case with others, my efforts to fight social injustice sometimes recapitulated the cycle of injustice by the oppressive manner in which I conducted the challenge. The content of my challenge was valid, but my attacking and dismissive manner mirrored the oppression of those challenged.

In dynamic terms, I was identified with the role of opposer of social injustice. It did not seem conceivable to me that as an opposer I could also be an oppressor.  By exploring my tendency to side with the underdog (including attacking the power and vulnerabilities of the perceived oppressor) I realised that I had lost touch with the humanity of the person in the roles I was attacking. I had dehumanised them, projected my own oppressor onto them, and attempted to undermine their power without considering the impact of my attack on the person in the role. 

By owning up to my own splintered identity and enabling dialogue between the players in my own inner power battle, I found new ways of relating to an "oppressor" that did not lose sight of their humanity, the roles they were playing and the mythical/impersonal dimensions of the conflict in which we were engaged.  I saw how unresolved inner conflicts distorted my engagement in outer conflicts.

The multidimensional nature of Process Facilitation 

Process work requires that we interweave multiple levels (e.g. psychological, social, mythical), multiple perspectives (e.g. oppressor, victim, witness) and multiple ways of engaging (e.g. inner-work, activism, inquiry).  It highlights the complexity of the challenge and the variety of avenues for constructive engagement in conflict.

Process work asks us to be mindful of signals and events in the field and to develop the capacity to move fluidly between these levels, perspectives and modes of engagement, while being conscious in the moment of the roles we play, the way we use our rank and power, and the context within which we conflict or facilitate.  Developmentally this expects a lot of us. It is not surprising that many of us find ourselves in over our heads in terms of ability to consciously hold the complexity, sustain awareness and balance, and function effectively in the heat of conflict.  The bar is set high, especially for would be facilitators. (In later issues we will explore models of maturity and developmental stages and how they reflect readiness to engage in conflict at different levels of  complexity).

The implications for process facilitation are significant, though it is not suggested that the facilitator stays neutral or unbiased as do many approaches including mediation.  It is expected and encouraged that the facilitator will enhance their awareness capacity and develop deep-democracy within themselves and the ability to support it within and between others.  This is no small challenge but  awareness transforms and can be enhanced from any role in the field whether onesided or neutral.

All participants are encouraged to be participant-facilitators in pursuit of awareness. The challenge is to be able to empathise, give voice to whatever role one is occupying and to be fluid in ones ability to identify with and switch between roles in the field of conflict. While this demands greater awareness, it also encourages greater authenticity in the person occupying the facilitator role.  This is not to say that excellence in facilitation is not sought or that there is no place for neutral viewpoint - far from it. 

Typically POP encourages us to be in touch and aware of our stance or position in the field, whether it be for, against, or neutral, and to authentically represent that position as long as one feels congruent with it.  Awareness can come from any position so the facilitator may temporarily take up e.g. a ghost or antagonist role, explicitly stepping out of the formal facilitator role, which in turn may be occupied in the moment by those who feel more congruent with that position or role.  Also encouraged is the capacity for "eldership", the capacity to support all aspects of the conflict or community.  Elders may often be perceived as troublemakers because of their willingness to support all sides.

POP emphasises the need to do inner-work, work on the relationship and work on the issues in context in parallel in order to resolve and transform conflict.  More familiar linear approaches to problem solving may be needed to complement emergent experiential inquiry processes depending on the goals and setting.  While a definite strength of Process work is raising awareness of repressed feelings, marginalized voices, hidden conflict and abusive dynamics that we may find challenging to surface, in doing so it helps prevent, resolve and transform conflict, enhance relationships and build community.

Working with rank and identity issues

We often associate rank with social rank and hierarchical power but there are other kinds of rank e.g. spiritual, psychological, moral, education, economic, gender, sexual orientation, race, age and so on.  Lack of awareness of our rank, the privileges accompanying it and how we abuse it is a continuing conflict generator.  Because rank has often been bestowed on us by virtue of factors such as the country, race and class into which we were born we are often unconscious of it and of the need to use it wisely.  Those with less rank are more likely to be aware of higher rank and power, but may be unconscious of their own, which they may be using oppressively.  By enabling participants get in touch with their own experiences of low rank, marginalization and abuse they can more easily empathise with that of others and be more likely to use their own rank and privilege in a positive way.

Likewise, identity and how people handle it is often problematic in working with conflict and can lead to distrust.  We often flip from one identity to another.  Especially when our privileged identity is under attack, we often flip and respond from our marginalized or oppressed identity as a way of defending ourselves.  This can be very disorienting and infuriating to our challenger unless accompanied with awareness and acknowledgement.  For example, I may be challenged as a man for my abuse of economic privilege but respond as a male who is being discriminated against in a family court.  Both may be true but I answer from the identity I am comfortable with.  Such flipping from one identity to another is common in escalating conflicts and realising that we engage from multiple identities, some with high rank and some with low, can help clear up much confusion and irritation.  The trick is to stay alert to these identities, to their appearance/disappearance, and the switches between them.

Identities are most troublesome when we come to an edge - the boundary between the "I" and the "not I".  We identify parts of our selves as "I" and others as not "I".  Other people are aware of the aspects of which we are unaware, such as rank.  These aspects are often denied or disowned in the face of challenge and can lock us in and limit our ability to deal with conflict.  Helping people to identify more with awareness itself enables them become conscious of their fixed identities, to go over the edge of these identities, expand them, and connect with the flow and adaptivity of the ever-changing field.