Why dialogue in politics - Ken Cloke
MBABANE – According to a report by .en &loke, a world recognised mediator, states that political issues can only be re solved by coming together across our differences.
“The most difficult issues we face in life, whether as couples, families, organisations, societies, nation states, or human beings, cannot be resolved by individuals acting alone, by elites acting au tocratically, or by factions acting in their own distinct and exclusive self interest.
“They can only be resolved by coming together across our differ ences, listening and talking to each other, exploring our disagreements, working collaboratively, reaching consensus, deciding what to do democratically, resolving our differ ences and acting Mointly in the inter est of the whole,´ &loke wrote in his report.
He further said that working col laboratively with those who are dif ferent, those we dislike, those with whom we disagree, even those whose actions we find repellent, required higher order listening, dialogue, negotiation and conflict resolution skills, each of which required more time and greater effort than acting alone.
EXHAUSTING
“It can be exhausting, irksome, messy and galling to listen openly and honestly engage opinions and in terests that diverge sharply from our own.
“As a result, most often we act uni laterally, ignoring the needs and de sires of those who do not agree with us,´ he further wrote.
Meanwhile he pointed out that when we act individually or uni laterally and in our own exclusive self interest in matters that directly and significantly impact others, often without including or even informing them, they would feel disrespected, as we would, and are more inclined to resist, undermine our solutions, and would respond in ways that would trigger costly chronic conflicts.
“Indeed, our history as a species is replete with examples of prob lems made far worse by refusals to listen, reMections of communication, dismissals of dialogue, isolations from participation, constrictions of collaboration, and exclusions from decision making.
COLLABORATION
“If we could somehow add up the costs we have incurred as a result, including the chronic conflicts trig gered by these failures of com munication and collaboration, the results would be staggering, and vastly outweigh the increased time, effort, expense and skills that were needed to overcome the obsta cles to acting together,´ he explained.
&loke noted that the most impor tant of these skills centred around communication, dialogue and group problem solving, which required higher or der proficiencies in empa thetic listening, emotional intelligence, dialogue fa cilitation, teamwork, prob lem solving, consensus building,
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