New Book by ILRie Addresses How to Solve Tough Problems

After more than two decades advocating on the front lines of national public policy related to poverty and hunger, Robert Fersh ’72 turned his sights toward the bigger picture of helping individuals learn to address vast problems collaboratively.

Inspired in part by ILR’s founding mission of bringing together union and management by finding common ground, Fersh founded Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, a nonprofit organization formed to promote consensus solutions to issues of domestic importance, in 2009 and served as its first CEO until 2020. Recently, Fersh described his experience in a book co-written with Convergence CEO and President, Mariah Levison, called “From Conflict to Convergence: Coming Together to Solve Tough Problems” (Wiley).

ILRie spoke with Fersh about the book. This interview has been edited and condensed.

What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

The book is intended to restore hope that human beings can often find ways to live in harmony and solve problems despite our differences.

To support this goal, the book uses a story-driven format to spell out the ingredients for success in solving problems across divides in a manner that meets the needs of conflicting parties and usually builds relationships of trust that lead to ongoing cooperation. We want to greatly expand the number of people who understand the power of collaborative problem-solving and inspire them to employ it in their professional and personal lives.

Who would benefit from reading this book?

People in many roles will benefit. Above all, government officials at all levels who need to solve knotty problems that divide the public wherever they serve. But others too. For example, college administrators have told us that the book helps them be better leaders and solve problems more effectively. The book is also for business leaders, policy advocates, those leading religious congregations, community leaders, and anyone looking for help with conflict resolution and problem-solving.

Younger people – particularly higher education students – would benefit from the book. They have experienced the disheartening deterioration in civic dialogue in recent years and many have lost faith in our institutions and our ability to get along and solve problems. The book can help them understand that conflict can be healthy and not everyone they disagree with is necessarily their enemy.

What inspired you to found the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution?

Although my intention in attending the ILR school was to become a mediator, the dramatic social upheavals during my Cornell years (1968-72) led me to earn a law degree at Boston University and head to Washington, D.C., to focus on problems related to poverty and inequality. After serving on the staffs of three Congressional committees and heading a national anti-hunger organization, my instincts to be a mediator and bridgebuilder kicked back in.

I wanted to build a capacity for people who disagree on how to solve important problems to engage in true dialogue to create wise solutions that bridge differences without compromising principles.

Convergence addresses big problems collaboratively and it inspires and equips others to do the same. Convergence convenes groups of people who have the collective knowledge, influence and experience (including lived experience) to, if they can agree on solutions, effect change.

Convergence has a strong ILR connection. Can you tell us about that?

Convergence would never have made it but for the connective tissue of ILR. When I began to launch Convergence, I had the good fortune to meet ILR adjunct faculty member Roxi Hewertson. Roxi reintroduced me to my old professor, David Lipsky, the former ILR dean. David invited me to Ithaca to do a lecture. Soon after that, David threw his energy into Convergence, joining our board and making connections. David introduced me to Rich Korn ’71, Ph.D. ’79, who had been his Ph.D. student. Rich has a strong background in human resources and executive coaching, and he devoted countless hours to advising me and building Convergence, chairing its board for many years.

During this period, David, Rich and I co-taught a one-week, one-credit course three times at the ILR school, focusing on the Convergence approach.

There are many other ILR connections, including multiple interns and two additional board members: Oliver Quinn (not an ILRie, but served as a Scheinman Institute board member) and Greg Campbell ’75.

What have been some of Convergence’s successes?

Among the challenging national issues we have had success in addressing are health care, K-12 education, economic mobility, incarceration, long-term care, U.S.-Pakistan relations, the federal budget process, guns and suicide, and digital discourse and disinformation.

What made you decide to write this book?

Mariah Levison and I thought our successes might inspire others to try our methodology. Convergence is a small organization, and there is only so much we can do on our own.

Earlier in this interview, you said the book offers ingredients for success. What are these ingredients?

One ingredient is cultivating a collaborative mindset. Our processes generally lead people to see: that conflict can be constructive; the value of giving others the benefit of the doubt; the importance of practicing genuine curiosity to really understand others; and how it is possible to create win-win solutions – that for one party to win does not necessarily require another to lose.

We describe other ingredients in the Building Blocks section of the book. These blocks are the essential tasks for building agreements. They include doing homework in advance to understand the issues and players, nurturing trust among participants and between participants and those convening any group. They also include finding ways to really hear each other, including what lies underneath what people are saying, as well as having the group identify possible solution sets that meet the wide-ranging needs of those at the table. A final building block is taking the time necessary to do all these things well.

The book also deals with process. Whether it is a straightforward problem that exists within one organization or a more complex issue of public policy, the basic process steps are the same, though stickier problems like hot policy issues usually require more extensive and formal process steps. The key elements of the process are carrying out initial research as needed, defining a shared goal for any group to address, identifying who needs to talk with whom to address divisions that stand in the way of progress and engage people who collectively can achieve impact, designing a process for engagement (where to meet, how often, for how long), engaging in effective dialogue (governed by ground rules and sometimes with a facilitator) and reaching agreements on recommendations and an implementation plan.

How do you envision the book helping society during these divisive times?

The current moment does pose special challenges for collaboration, especially at the national policy level, but we continue to find people who see the need to solve problems and are willing to sit with perceived adversaries at the federal, state and local policy levels, as well as in in private settings.

We hope our book will result in more people working much more effectively across differences in many settings. Our book is intended to be evergreen and not just a response to the current moment. We hope that over time, especially by reaching future leaders, we can contribute to a cultural change where respect for differences and constructive engagement becomes the norm.