Innovation
OEF’s focus for the xNI program during year one was to develop prototype products that encapsulate and codify a negotiation approach the team calls the “BB3 methodology” in order to pass it on in scalable and sustainable ways. In 2021, the xNI team developed a three-tier mission model to deliver and expand its ability to have a positive impact on conflict resolution and the prospects for lasting peace. In 2021, the program saw notable success in each of these areas.
Deploying the BB3 negotiation approach, which helps negotiation advisors “go to the balcony” to see the big picture, build the bridges necessary to create positive-sum outcomes, and mobilize the “Third Side” to help decision-makers choose peace, the vision behind this program is to unleash the human capacity to deal with difficult conflict creatively and collaboratively.
Over the past year, the initiative has deployed its programming in situations as diverse as ending the Colombian civil war, averting nuclear war with North Korea, safeguarding US elections, and accelerating climate change negotiations. With this investment, One Earth Future imagines—and is working to train and mobilize—world-class teams of skilled negotiators tackling the world’s toughest conflicts, using BB3 to transform existential problems that plague humanity, from war in various parts of the world to the shared global challenge of climate change.
Testimonials
“I'm in the middle of real-time negotiations, and it was very useful for the [BB3 methodology] frameworks to spark tactical ideas that I otherwise would not have thought about. I wish I could do this monthly as a way to step back and think through everything going on.” —Workshop participant in the post-workshop feedback
“This model is the best I've seen in my ten-plus years learning about and applying conflict resolution.” —Workshop participant in the post-workshop feedback
“xNI helped me build a construct for the Venezuela context, which was incredibly helpful.” —Senior Advisor to the Special Representative for Venezuela at the US State Department
The xNI’s program’s BB3 workshop coached the COP26 UK Presidency negotiations team to find new ways to approach their negotiations and find a way forward: “The interactive sessions provided us with an amazing range of tools with which to consider new ways of approaching our negotiations, and the space to do this together as a team. On more than one occasion during the COP, we invoked one of William's practices when thinking about the way forward."
