Method guide · Work with a structured grid
Moving from Positions to Interests and Needs
Explore reasons, interests, and speakable needs in people's own words without forced disclosure or treating violence and rights violations as symmetrical needs.
- People
- 2–20
- Base procedure time
- 25 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Explore through dialogue; Organise and narrow ideas.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A method for tracing the reasons, interests, and needs beneath conflicting positions in the person's own words. Choose one issue and record positions, reasons, interests to protect, and only needs the person can discuss in separate stages. Do not press for deep disclosure of private life or hurt, and remove speculation in which others assert what the person's needs are. From the needs layer, seek common or compatible conditions and create conditions for the next consideration. Do not make violence, harassment, or rights violations symmetrical as differences between both sides' needs; stop seeking common ground and move to formal safety, consultation, and remedy routes. The outputs are a map of interests and needs and compatible conditions. This description is a distinct adaptation, with changes, of Digging Deeper by Rhizome, published in Commons Library, under CC BY-SA 4.0, and is provided under the same terms.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Check the issue, passing, and asymmetrical safety boundaries0–5 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Check boundaries. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
- Record positions in their owners' words5–10 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Record positions. Participation: The person concerned or groups of 4.
Shared record
- Hear reasons separately from protected interests10–15 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Separate interests. Participation: The person concerned or groups of 4.
Shared record
- Check only needs the person can discuss15–20 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Check needs. Participation: The person concerned or groups of 4.
Shared record
- Create common or compatible next conditions20–25 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Create conditions. Participation: Groups of 4.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 5 minutes, check one issue, passing and stopping, and boundaries against making rights violations symmetrical.
- For 5 minutes, write each conflicting position on the five-field sheet in words authorised by the person concerned.
- For 5 minutes, hear reasons for the position separately from interests to protect, without asking for deep disclosure.
- For 5 minutes, record only needs the person can discuss and remove others' speculation.
- For 5 minutes, create one next consideration condition from common or compatible needs.
If something changes
If
Even one person does not want to share reasons, interests, or needs.
Then
Allow passing without asking why and record only the position they have authorised.
If
Even one instance of harm, violence, harassment, or a rights violation is indicated.
Then
Stop seeking common needs, do not make the matter symmetrical, and prioritise the person's safety and formal consultation/remedy routes.
If
Even once, someone asserts another person's needs or presses for deep disclosure.
Then
Stop the contribution, remove speculation, and return to what the person can say for themselves and passing.
Preparation
Materials
- One self-made five-field sheet per group for position, reasons, interests, needs, and compatible conditions
- One pass/stop/individual-consultation card set per person
- One formal-support/rights-violation-response card per person
- One broad-tip pen per person
Room and setup
- Handle only one conflict issue; first explain freedom not to speak, passing, stopping, individual support, and leaving
- Record positions, reasons, interests, and only needs the person can discuss in separate stages. Do not press for deep disclosure or retain others' assertions about the person's needs
- Do not make violence, harassment, or rights violations symmetrical as differences between both sides' needs. Stop seeking common ground and separate them for formal safety, consultation, and remedy routes
Adjust for people and time
Use one group for 2–4 people; two groups of 2–4 for 5–8; three groups of 2–4 for 9–12; four groups of 3–4 for 13–16; and five groups of 3–4 for 17–20, with sizes differing by no more than one person. Each group handles only one issue; do not integrate separate cases.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Allow silence, passing, stopping, individual support, and leaving. Use only authorised wording and needs the person can discuss; do not press for private or painful disclosure or retain others' claims about their needs. Stop common-needs work for harm, violence, harassment, or rights violations and prioritise formal safety and remedy without making the matter symmetrical. Do not integrate separate cases.
Historical translation and source notes
These original notes are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. This historical label does not resolve a source-specific concern or establish current acceptance.
- Phase people labels refer to groups of 4, including the final phase, while scaling permits groups of 2 or 3 at several participant totals. Both are retained without imposing four-person groups or changing the scaling ranges.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Commons Library / Rhizome Facilitation Tools and Techniques: Digging Deeper
https://commonslibrary.org/facilitation-tools-and-techniques/#h-digging-deeper
Adaptation under CC-BY-SA-4.0; changes made
- Conditions for applying CC-BY-SA-4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.
The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.
Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.