WHEN COMPROMISE JUST ISN’T POSSIBLE

Some time ago I was honored to be a consultant to a major transportation agency. Today, transportation agencies deal with projects that can involve major opposition. For example, the redesign of a highway that has a high accident rate can involve the destruction of old growth trees. And a new runway can result in the destruction of wetlands.

Conflicts such as this don’t seem to be readily addressed by compromise. No obvious outcome seems acceptable. The high accident rate on the highway shouldn’t be allowed to continue. The old trees and the life they support can’t be replaced. It isn’t possible to partially redesign the highway and take out just half of the trees. A new runway can’t be shortened, eliminating the threat to the life supported by the wetland.  Compromise in these cases just doesn’t seem possible.

In urban areas transportation agencies deal with competing demands over bicycle lanes. Some argue that bicycle lanes are environmentally friendly reducing car use; others argue that bicycle lanes favor only a special interest group at the expense of others. It’s not a compromise to make the bicycle lane smaller.

In conflicts such as these it is common to talk about mitigation. A dictionary definition of mitigation is to reduce the risk of loss from the occurrence of an undesirable event. In the examples above, mitigation is meant to offset the loss one party will experience.

So, for example, if the runway will be built what can be done to mitigate the loss of wetlands? Can other land be set aside as protected? If a bicycle lane is to be set aside in one neighbor where residents object, what other thing could be done to benefit the resident of that neighborhood?

In mediation when parties agree that compromise is not possible, I encourage the parties to think creatively with questions such as, “If you can’t compromise, what can you do? What can you do to offset the loss the other party feels they will experience?” When the parties move towards considering ways to mitigate loss, they find they can work together.