Introduction: Silke Hansen is an experienced mediator for the Community Relations Service. So it might come as a surprise to hear about a very simple mistake she made in a tricky situation. She talks about a very plain but important lesson she learned from her error as she tells the story of intervening in a situation in which all of the parties were not privy to her impending arrival.

This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).

Simple Mistakes
Silke Hansen
Senior Conciliation Specialist, Community Relations Service
Interviewed by
Julian Portilla
2003
In this case I was invited to participate by a community advocacy organization. I was to then meet with an institution where there were some racial conflicts. And I was under the impression, I thought I'd asked, but I might be wrong, that the institution knew I was going to be there. It turns out that they did not know that I was coming. All they knew was that they were getting hassled by this advocacy group, and all of a sudden, the Justice Department was there as well. I didn't find out until afterwards. I thought the meeting had gone pretty well. We were even looking towards mediation and they had expressed a willingness to mediate.

But it turns out later, they did not know I was going to be there and they were furious that the Department of Justice had come on site without letting them know first. It eventually worked out, but you know what? I ate crow. I admit I was wrong. I said, you know, I made the assumption that you knew, and that was unfounded. I am so sorry! But I still think that I have some things that I can offer in this situation. It ultimately worked out OK. But I certainliy learned a lesson that I make sure that all of the key parties know that I am coming into a situation before I come. I don't leave that up to anyone else but me to make sure they know that. I don't know in the overall scheme of things, if that's a profound insight. But it's something you can overlook and then oops! I won't make that mistake again because I really learned my lesson.
Beyond Intractability Version II
Copyright © 2003-2006 The Beyond Intractability Project
Beyond Intractability is a Registered Trademark of the University of Colorado
Project Acknowledgements

The Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base Project
Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess, Co-Directors and Editors
c/o Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado
Campus Box 580, Boulder, CO 80309
Phone: (303)492-1635; Fax: (303)492-2154; Contact