Strategies to restore communication bridges  

Following the recent municipal elections, the government launched a number of initiatives to promote a climate conducive to the exercise of democracy in Quebec’s municipalities. As part of these initiatives, the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation has decided to expand its training offer for elected officials and municipal employees, with a particular focus on conflict resolution.

To meet this need, 2SQ teamed up with Communications Synergie, a group of specialists in non-violent communication, to create a series of four training capsules on the communication skills essential to conflict management.

The Synergie teaching team first defined the major themes and key principles to emphasize. From there, the 2SQ team developed the concept for the video series: short conflict scenarios played by actors, followed by an expert’s analysis (also played by an actor). The expert comments on the interactions as if he had witnessed the scene and suggests alternative approaches to resolving the conflict. The same scene is then replayed with the new suggestions, illustrating the impact of the lessons learned on the dynamics of the situation. The concept, scripting, filming and post-production were carried out by our team, in close collaboration with Synergie’s teaching team and the expert committee of the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation.

The series of 4 videos, each about 5 minutes long, is available to elected officials and municipal employees on the Quebec government website. The video content is enhanced by documents, checklists and observation grids developed by our partner Communications Synergie.