Go where the problem is not.
technique — attributed to Caitlin Walker
Walker's family-dinner technique illustrates a broader principle. At a dinner with an anti-vaxxer and a pro-vaxxer, the standard move is to engage the disagreement and produce the predictable argument. Walker's question was different. What is your idea of a great way to approach whole community health. The reframe moved the conversation to ground both parties could share. The technique is the systemic modeling trick of going where the problem is not. Engaging the stuck point produces more stuck. Engaging the adjacent ground that both parties care about produces conversation. The discipline applies to political conversations, organizational conflicts, and any context where the parties have been arguing the same point in the same way for years.
For mediators, facilitators, and anyone navigating polarized conversations at dinner tables or in workplaces. The technique is most useful as a planning move before the conversation, identifying the adjacent ground where both parties can meet.
sidestep, anti-vaxxer-pro-vaxxer, community-health, common-ground