Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand

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Matching Understanding with Action Paper to 2nd
International Conference on Sustainability
Engineering and Science Auckland, 20 23
February, 2007 Steve Thompson Chief
Executive Royal Society of New Zealand Steve.Tho
mpson_at_rsnz.org
Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
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Leontief Model of the Economy
RecycleProduct
RecycleWaste
Production Effort
Leontief
Raw Materials
ConsumerGoods
Waste/Pollution
Consumers
Landfill
WaterfillAirfill
Reduce
Reduce/Capture/recycle
Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
3
Incoming Minister of Environment Maiden speech
Ten years ago we didnt know about the
environment
Now its all around us!
Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
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Some simple questions Do we as a society
understand which of the resources we use are
dangerously near to exhaustion? Do we know
which of our natural resources are nearing their
pollution tolerance? Are we sure which of our
natural habitats are most in danger? Do firms,
and does the nation, report on the state of those
resources and habitats, and what their
activities do to them?
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Separable to Nested
Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
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• Suppose you have to get a
• message across to people which
• Is doom-laden
• Is strenuously contested by some scientists
• Is beyond the comprehension, and certainly the
  action, of most individuals
• Shows few visible or tangible signs of being a
  problem
• Is well beyond the planning horizons of
  politicians
• Seems to have no clear political solution
• Is well beyond the budgetary horizons of
  governments, local councils and planners
• Contains no element of sports competition or
  excitement
• Doesnt seem to have any digestible facts
• Is difficult for media reporters to digest into
  sound bites
• Cant be written up in 300-word articles

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Who makes the Decision?
Litigation High degree of control by third
party Arbitration ? Conciliation ? Mediati
on ? Facilitation ? Negotiation ? Dial
ogue and Problem solving High degree of
control by particpants
Most of the people I represent had the same
frame of mind as I did that we were going to
straighten these turkeys outBut all that
changed Dialogue participant
Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
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Consultation Consensus
Participants are Advocates Decision
Makers Objectives are Hear many
interests Search for single voice Approach
is Positional Interest-based Process
is Predetermined Participant-designed Relations
hip is Little contact Grows over
time Negotiation is Indirect Face to Face
At the end of the discussion you could see both
sides budging Just a little bit. I decide to
stick with the group after that..All of these
people who I was told were wingnuts not
so! Dialogue participant
Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
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Steps to Consensus
Asessment Talking about whether to
talk Getting Started Talking about how to
talk Running the process Talking Implementing
and Monitoring the Results Turning talk into
action
We started off being very general and now we are
very specific and hard-nosed. I think that where
the trust came from was That we had to have an
action plan. Each one of us went to the table
thinking that We had something to teach. I think
we all now Know that we had something to
learn Dialogue participant
Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
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Tips for success

• Turn negatives into positives
• Know your own organisations interests
• Avoid surprises
• Set practical internal deadlines
• Add dimensions to the solution space. Dont
  narrow to win-lose
• Give useful information
• Listen and understand underlying interests
• even if speaker is not articulate
• Ask yourself why views differ
• Create a package proposal. Try it out on home
  team
• Explain how your package meets other stakeholder
  interests
• Ask others how their proposal meets your
  interests
• Ask constructive questions
• Test assumptions for correctness
• Agreement should remain tentative until all agree
• Write down and have all sign the agreement

Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
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Facilitating Consensus

• Be independent
• Have no personal stake
• Deal with process, not content
• Encourage group to define own rules
• Treat all stakeholder positions as legitimate
• Become familiar with the issues
• Speak plainly and objectively
• Be able to explain parties views to each other
• Focus on the integrity of the process
• Maintain trust and confidentiality
• Be available at critical times

Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
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Facilitating Consensus

• Be independent
• Have no personal stake
• Deal with process, not content
• Encourage group to define own rules
• Treat all stakeholder positions as legitimate
• Become familiar with the issues
• Speak plainly and objectively
• Be able to explain parties views to each other
• Focus on the integrity of the process
• Maintain trust and confidentiality
• Be available at critical times

Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand
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Thank you, and dont forget to turn the lights out
Steve Thompson, Royal Society of New Zealand