Trust in the Leader of Collaborative Process Design and Facilitation
SKILL SK-05 | Early Engagement & Signal Detection
Pattern Thinking
The ability to connect individual signals, concerns, and incidents across time, location, and actor groups to see the systemic issue or dynamic that explains them. Pattern thinking shifts attention from managing isolated cases to understanding the conditions that produce them.
How to Develop It
1. Monthly signal review
At least monthly, review all logged signals and grievances as a set. Identify: what types recur? Who is raising them? At what project stage? What does the pattern suggest about system conditions? Bring findings to the project team with a specific recommendation.
2. Root cause mapping
Take a recurring concern type and map its possible root causes using a five-whys or fishbone approach. Present findings to the project team and propose a structural response - not another case-level intervention.
3. Cross-site comparison
Compare signal and grievance data across sites or project phases. What appears in multiple contexts? What does recurrence across sites tell you about systemic conditions versus site-specific ones?
Why This Skill Matters
In multi-stakeholder projects, problems rarely occur in isolation. A grievance in one barangay, a signal from a contractor, and a side comment at a community meeting may all be expressions of the same underlying condition. Without pattern thinking, each is managed separately and the root condition goes unaddressed.
Observable Behaviors
+ Reviews multiple signals and grievances together, not just individually
+ Asks what condition is producing this, not just how to resolve this one case
+ Notices when the same type of concern appears from different actors or locations
+ Brings pattern analysis into team reviews with specific findings, not just observations
+ Uses pattern findings to recommend structural changes, not only case responses
Connections
Linked Protocols
P-02: Signal Escalation Protocol
Self-Assessment
Read each Reflective Question below and honestly consider how consistently you demonstrate this in your actual fieldwork, not how you think you should behave, but how you do behave. Then assign a score from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest):
(1) Not yet developed: Rarely demonstrated in practice
(2) Emerging: Demonstrated sometimes, but inconsistently or only under favorable conditions
(3) Established: Demonstrated reliably in most situations, including moderately challenging ones
(4) Adaptive: Demonstrated reliably even in high-pressure situations, and practitioner actively helps
Common Gaps & Pitfalls
! Treating pattern thinking as the job of management rather than frontline practitioners
! Reviewing grievance data by volume rather than by type, source, and frequency
! Identifying patterns but not escalating them with specific structural recommendations
Connections
SK-04: Signal Recognition
SK-17: Root Cause Analysis
SK-27: Adaptive Management
Reflective Questions Score from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest):
I regularly review signals and grievances as a set, not just individually
I can identify at least one recurring pattern from the current project and name its likely root cause
I bring pattern analysis to team meetings, not just case updates
I propose structural responses to recurring patterns, not only case-by-case resolutions
Th shared to the public for free courtesy of the
THE CONFLICT RESOLUTION GROUP FOUNDATION
www.coregroup.org.ph * info@coregroup.org.ph
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