Using a story to bring home the point is a fascinating technique. Some trainers do it effortlessly. However this technique cannot be used without reading, analysing, internalizing and contemplating. It needs lots of homework. The moment a story is read and understood, the following steps may have to be followed:-
- Where do I use this story?
- How do I use this story to bring home the point?
- To which content – do I link this story?
- How short can I make this story?
- What is the message I am going to deliver through this story?
- In which other contexts can I use the same story?
Example:
Story: Everyday a lady was fetching water from quite a distance in two buckets. One bucket was having three holes. The water was leaking. However the lady was carrying water in both the buckets. She would shift her hands to carry the buckets. By the time she reached home there would be a bucket full of water and another one with very less water. Some one asked why wouldn’t she either close the holes or get an another bucket. She said” the leaking bucket would water the plants along her walking path to the well from where she would get water. There is greenery on either side with small flowers because of the water. It is enjoyable to walk along this path. I don’t feel the strain of fetching water multiple times. “
(Time taken to tell this story 1.30 minutes).
Where do you use it in mediation training:-
Role of third parties – Role of advocates.
Possible Question: Why should we give importance to third parties? Or Advocates? Can we not avoid them? At times they would adversely affect the resolution.
As the lady is carrying a leaking bucket some times mediator may come across person/s whose participation may look pointless and counter productive. How best their role is made use of is a challenge to the mediator. Where they cannot be avoided, mediator may think i) How do I set a proper atmosphere for resolution, making use of these persons? ( Like the walk path to fetch water being made pleasant.)
How do I not avoid their role ? ( Like the leaking bucket also being used.)
How do I make the process enjoyable and acceptable to the parties? ( As the lady enjoyed her
Job of fetching water.)
Total time taken – 2 minutes.
Thus within 5 minutes’ time the story line is used to convert the notion of the trainees about possible disturbing role of third parties into that of co operative role.
TIPS i) Trainer is required to keep number of stories in the trainer’s kit.
ii) Should mark on each story- where he/she would be using it.
iii) Trainer must inculcate the skill of telling the story in the shortest form without losing the message.
iv) Can also think of giving the handout of the short story in not less than ten lines and ask the trainees how do they use the message from the story to the topic under consideration, and may use this technique to convert the session into an interactive session.
“The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.”
(Mary Catherine Bateson-American author and Cultural Anthropologist.)
(All copyrights reserved by the author S.Susheela).
Training of Trainers in Mediation 