Preventative Spending Event
Charlie Woods attended the Scottish Parliament Finance Committee Preventative Spending Event on 4 March 2011. The following is an excerpt from his contribution during the open discussion in the Parliamentary Chamber about the potential for mediation:
"For part of the time, I am a mediator who helps people to sort out their conflicts. I want to build on the point about collaboration and practical solutions that the convener and Suzanne Zeedyk have made. All too often in trying to build collaboration, we put a lot of effort into thinking about the governance and structures that will help to support that collaboration.
Those things are important, but if people do not focus on the personal relationships that are involved in the collaboration and do not try to build understanding of where the different organisations’ shared interests are, what their concerns and expectations are, what assumptions they have made going into relationships, and the emotions that they have about them, the chances of success in building a strong collaboration will be much less. A lot can be done up front to build strong relationships. That does not need to be left to chance; it can be invested in."