Most times, there are many areas where parties see eye to eye. Pointing these out helps participants think positively about the possibility of solutions. Isolate areas of disagreement . Now it's far more likely that participants can focus constructively on the work that must be done to reach consensus. This is not to say that managing conflict will always be a swift and smooth process.
Some problems have deep roots and a long history of contention and negative feelings.
Sometimes weeks and months of discussions must take place before there is any progress. Nevertheless, the techniques I have described do work. I have seem them move mountains of problems, allowing participants to move forward to the greate r improvements and increasing quality that make coming to work each day worthwhile.