Trust in the Leader of Collaborative Process Design and Facilitation
SKILL SK-18 | Conflict Understanding & Response
Conflict Analysis
The ability to understand and map a conflict - its parties, their interests and positions, the history that shaped it, the dynamics sustaining it, and the conditions under which it might be resolved. Conflict analysis is the diagnostic foundation for any structured intervention.
How to Develop It
1. Conflict mapping exercise
For an actual or simulated conflict, produce a conflict map: parties, issues, relationships (cooperative, neutral, adversarial), history of key events, current stage, and trajectory. Use it to brief the response team and select the appropriate intervention.
2. Interest-position analysis
Take a party stated position and map the possible underlying interests behind it. Practice presenting the interests framing to colleagues: what they are really asking for is... Repeat for all parties in the conflict.
3. Trajectory assessment
Review a current or recent conflict situation and assess its trajectory: is it escalating, stable, or de-escalating? What is driving the trajectory? What intervention would change it? Present assessment and recommendation to the team.
Why This Skill Matters
Intervening in a conflict without understanding it is one of the most common ways that well-intentioned responses make things worse. Conflict analysis enables appropriate, targeted responses and identifies when a conflict is beyond the project team capacity to manage alone.
Observable Behaviors
+ Can name all parties to a conflict, including less visible secondary actors
+ Distinguishes between stated positions and underlying interests for each party
+ Maps the history of a conflict - what events have shaped the current dynamic
+ Identifies the relationships and power dynamics between parties
+ Assesses the conflict stage (latent, emerging, active, crisis) and trajectory
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
! Mapping only the most visible parties and missing secondary actors influencing the dynamic
! Stopping at position analysis without exploring underlying interests
! Treating conflict analysis as a one-time assessment rather than ongoing as situations evolve
Connections
Related Skills
SK-17: Root Cause Analysis
SK-19: Conflict Sensitivity
SK-20: Interest-Based Negotiation
Reflective Questions Score from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest):
I can produce a basic conflict map for any current situation: parties, issues, relationships, history
I can distinguish between stated positions and underlying interests for each party
I can assess a conflict current stage and trajectory
I use conflict analysis to inform response strategy, not just to understand the situation
Th shared to the public for free courtesy of the
THE CONFLICT RESOLUTION GROUP FOUNDATION
www.coregroup.org.ph * info@coregroup.org.ph
in partnership with SustainABILITIES Lab
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