Introduction: Sallyann Roth, co-founder of the Public Conversations Project, suggests that facilitators should be aware of the gap between their intentions and the actual effects. This will help them to become reconnected to the dialogue or training process so that they can try again.

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The Gap Between Intentions and Effects
Sallyann Roth
Family Therapist, Trainer, and Co-Founder of the Public Conversations Project, in Watertown, Massachusetts
Interviewed by
Julian Portilla
2003

Everything we do, whether we are asking a question, or designing a conversational structure, we are always planning. We want it to have certain effects. But the effects that we have and the intentions that we have are never going to be exactly aligned. So another piece that we try to get to in the training is to create a sense of mindfulness about the gap between intentions and effects.

... A responsible facilitator is always mindful of the gap and always trying to reduce it and doesn't feel awful when there is a gap. It's not that you've done something wrong mostly, it's that you need to step back and get reconnected to try again. It becomes a learning experience, as opposed to a failure experience.
Beyond Intractability Version II
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