From June 19 to 21, it was Consensus Building Institute (CBI) Global Network was our guest for their annual network meeting. During these days, we discussed new developments in the field of Strategic Stakeholder Engagement (SSE/SOM) and Mutual Gains negotiation with professionals from around the world.

One major topic we couldn't ignore was the political developments in the United States. Firstly, because Trump's policies had direct consequences for our network. Due to some participants' fear of not obtaining visas or being detained at the border, the meeting was moved from Boston to Zeist. Therefore, we also extensively considered the question: what can we do in times when there seems to be less and less room for coming closer together? Our conclusion: precisely in this time, the mutual gains method is necessary. The major problems simply cannot be solved without cooperation between parties. We need space for difficult conversations. But with our colleagues, we also saw the challenges:

As a process facilitator, you must constantly ask yourself: Is there really room here to build consensus? Or is the ultimate goal of one of the parties at the table to defeat your opponent, and is this process a distraction? This requires good contracting in advance.
Due to polarization, fueled in part by politics, reaching a supported solution at the project or policy development level has become more difficult. More time is needed for parties at the table to build trust with each other before the substance can be discussed.

Due to strong shifts in political direction and actively opposing preceding governments, it becomes even harder to reach a supported solution in complex trajectories. These trajectories, which last for years, often deal with multiple governments (especially in the Netherlands), meaning the course of at least one of the parties at the table can change significantly during the process. This therefore also calls for innovation in our democratic system, where we search for more modern and sustainable forms of democracy. The Mutual Gains vision can play a valuable role in this.

This is just one of many topics discussed over the three days. Additionally, we focused on facilitating processes between (culturally) dominant parties and marginalized groups. We explored how to organize a permanent form of dialogue in which communities regain a sense of control over developments in their surroundings. We also spoke about anchoring environment-oriented work and how to help organizations shape this.

Besides inspiration and learning from each other, there was room for connection, fun, storytelling, and of course, enjoying the peace and nature of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug.

Senior consultant

Mart Scheepers