Season 2 episode 12 of the Resist + Renew podcast, where we talk about how to deal with conflict in the moment where it spikes up, using a frame called an "OODA loop".
'Conflict doesn't have to be fighting or loud. It can be a stickiness, or a tenseness that our body is picking up on.'
Show notes, links
Why this is a useful frame: intervening in conflict situations can feel difficult; it is easier when you do these steps first!.
In the "Observe" step, a few things to look for:
volume changes
an issue "cycling" back again and again
issues being raised but not addressed
participation changes (did some people leave the space and not come back)
feeling tense in your body
In the "Orient" step, a few questions to reflect on:
Who is involved, and who isn't?
Who is visibly involved, who could be not visibly involved?
What roles are people taking (formal and informal)?
Why do you think it's happening now? (e.g. specific timings
What's your position in this?
How could this pan out? Do you think it will escalate, or fizzle out?
In the "Decide" step, a few areas to consider:
WHEN to intervene: never; later but not now; now; a mix
WHO should intervene: you? You + someone else? Other people, not you?
WHAT you could do: have a side chat with people you think are "in conflict"; checking in on what a person who has been harmed wants; activating a pre-existing conflict process; name that conflict is happening, and explicitly park it til later; take a pause, to make a plan; name + ask people what's happening; find out what (some / all) people need; name and frame.
In the "Act" step... good luck! More on potential interventions next week...
Other resources on OODA loops as a model:
A podcast that talks about OODA loops in more depth than we do...
...or a blog post breaking down the OODA loop steps, if you prefer written things.
And finally, some perennial resources:
our sister facilitation collective Navigate have a conflict facilitation booklet (from back when they were called Seeds For Change Oxford).
See our "What is facilitation?" podcast episode page for more general facilitation resources.
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Transcript
ALI
This is Resist Renew,
KATHERINE
the UK based podcast about social movements,
SAMI
what we're fighting for, why and how it all happens.
ALI
The hosts of the show are
KATHERINE
Me, Kat.
SAMI
Me, Sami,
ALI
and me, Ali.
SAMI
I'm recording this now, baby!
ALI
Shit, it's a podcast!
KATHERINE
Welcome to this episode of the toolbox. Today we're going to be exploring what to do in the moment when conflict sparks. And we're going to explore this using a thing called an OODA. Loop. And the OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. Over to you, Sami, to tell us what this is.
SAMI
Yes, I will try. [Luahgs] So: full disclosure, this is an idea that comes from like military with like a military background. So I'm not going to pretend I've ever like been trained at this at military school or whatever.
But yeah, so the this like this OODA Loop, like to imagine it, as like a circle with Observe, Orient Describe Act as like a set of steps that you'll go through when deciding to do something in some kind of like conflictual situation or other type of situation. And so and I think just breaking out those distinct steps is probably quite helpful.
Like, often when there is a conflict, you will have a step of, like, trying to work out what's going on, which is like maybe an observation step; which maybe has a question around it, like how do you know that there is a conflict happening? Like, what is the signal that tells you that?
There's something about orienting, which is like, kind of digesting what you're observing. And like,
