Turning Conflict Into Collaboration: Interest-Based Dialogue Explained
Conflict is not the enemy of high performance.
Avoidance is.
Many organizations assume conflict is a sign that something is broken — or a signal that relationships have deteriorated. Yet in my work over the past 45+ years with institutions, boards, executive teams, and cross-functional groups, I have seen the opposite to be true:
Healthy conflict, when structured and facilitated well, is often the moment a team becomes a team.
That is the heart of Interest-Based Dialogue.
Interest-Based Dialogue is a repeatable, practical, human process leaders and teams can use to transform disagreement into shared understanding and sustainable agreements.
What is Interest-Based Dialogue?
Interest-Based Dialogue is a structured, human-centered process that helps teams move from positional debate to shared understanding by uncovering underlying needs, concerns, and motivations. It replaces argument and defensiveness with clarity, curiosity, and collaboration, leading to stronger agreements and sustainable solutions.
Key Points:
Explore interests, not positions
Build shared understanding
Generate creative options
Reach sustainable agreements
Research from the Harvard Program on Negotiations reinforces that interest-based approaches lead to stronger relationships, higher trust, and more sustainable agreements by focusing on underlying needs and shared purpose
Why Interest-Based Dialogue Matters Today
Work today is complex, fast-moving, and interdependent. Teams must navigate competing priorities, limited resources, and diverse perspectives. Without a reliable process, conflict becomes personal and positional.
With IBD, conflict becomes clarifying.
It reveals what people truly value—and where collaboration can begin.
Organizations that practice IBD consistently see:
Less defensiveness
More trust
Faster decision-making
Stronger team cohesion
Increased psychological safety
Better alignment across departments
What Makes Interest-Based Dialogue Different?
Traditional conflict approaches focus on demands (“what you want”) rather than interests (“why you want it”).
IBD shifts the conversation:
From:
Positions → Opposition → Winner/loser → Debate
To:
Interests → Understanding → Shared purpose → Collaboration
This shift unlocks creativity and reduces the pressure to “win.”
People stop defending their stance and start revealing what matters most.
If your team wants to move beyond positional debate and actually build shared understanding, Everything DiSC on Catalyst can help teams understand how they show up in conflict. Learn more about Catalyst.
The Six Steps of the Interest-Based Dialogue Process
1. Define the Issue Clearly
Teams agree on what decision, challenge, or opportunity needs attention.
2. Identify and Share Interests
Participants express what they need, care about, and hope the solution will achieve.
Not positions—interests.
3. Create Shared Criteria
Teams identify the standards a successful solution must meet.
Examples include:
Easy to implement
Student- or customer-centered
Fiscally sustainable
Aligned with mission
Supported by clear communication
Informed by data
4. Generate Options Together
The team brainstorms multiple ways to meet the shared criteria.
5. Evaluate Options Against Criteria
Ideas are examined objectively:
Which options meet the most interests and criteria?
6. Reach Agreement & Plan Next Steps
The team builds a solution that works for everyone—and decides how they’ll implement it.
This process is simple to learn but powerful in practice.
The Heart of Interest-Based Dialogue
Interest-Based Dialogue begins with one powerful shift: from defending a solution to exploring the underlying interests that solution was meant to satisfy.
When we explore interests together, we:
- get curious, not judgmental
- separate people from the problem
- recognize shared motivations beneath surface disagreement
- open space for creativity, innovation, and trust
That is why the Interest-Based Dialogue process works — not because it forces compromise — but because it reveals multiple possible pathways to meet what people truly need.
Why Interest-Based Dialogue Works
IBD is powerful because it:
Lowers defensiveness
Elevates understanding
Improves decision quality
Ensures everyone has a voice
Builds shared ownership
Strengthens trust and psychological safety
Teams that incorporate frameworks like Everything DiSC on Catalyst or CliftonStrengths often move into IBD more quickly because they already have language for differences and preferences.
Similarly, teams grounded in the Five Behaviors of Cohesive Teams model have the trust needed to engage in authentic dialogue.
Real-World Examples of Interest-Based Dialogue in Action
Interest-Based Dialogue is not theoretical.
It is real leadership, applied to real decisions.
Example 1: Gateway Technical College
Inspired Engagement facilitated an Interest-based Dialogue to surface and structure competing perspectives around class scheduling. The early conversations were positional. Once we shifted to interests — meeting student needs, efficient use of space, fiscally sustainable, and data-informed — the conflict became less personal and more collaborative. As soon as interests were visible, the team could generate solutions that honored all the legitimate needs in the system.
Example 2: Mingus Union High School District
Inspired Engagement facilitated an Interest-Based Dialogue to help address conflict over textbook adoption. By shifting the conversation from positions to interests, an agreed solution was reached that met all key interests of the school board, school faculty and administration, and community members. As an added outcome, lines of communication and mutual respect were strengthened.
In many organizations, the moment interests become explicit is the moment conversation shifts from adversarial to cooperative.
When Leaders Should Use Interest-Based Dialogue
IBD is especially effective when:
People feel stuck or polarized
Multiple stakeholders have competing needs
The issue is emotionally charged
Decisions require buy-in from many groups
Relationships matter as much as the outcome
You want sustainable—not temporary—solutions
IBD is not just for conflict.
It is equally powerful for planning, team alignment, strategy development, and decision-making.
How IBD Builds Trust and Engagement
Because the process centers on listening and shared understanding, participants feel:
Heard
Respected
Safe
Engaged
Responsible for the solution
IBD builds the kind of trust teams need for high performance.
Take the Next Step
You can begin with small steps:
- Download the Interest-based Dialogue and Problem-Solving Worksheet
- Use the six steps as a guide in your next meeting
- Explore how IBD pairs with Everything DiSC, CliftonStrengths, and Five Behaviors
- Schedule a consultation to explore what IBD could look like for your team
Conflict doesn’t have to divide your team—when handled well, it can unite it.
Contact us for a Free Consultation. Get Started
