What happened?

The goal of the first stage of the Something’s Up! Cycle is to notice when we have emotions (e.g., frustration, anger, confusion) because of the actions of another person. In this stage, we only want to talk about facts and feelings.

• Describe what happened and how each person felt.
• Don’t try to make sense or solve the misunderstanding; that step comes later.

What are the judgments/conclusions of each person?

The two goals of the second stage of the cycle are to:

• Make a list of the judgments and/or conclusions both people have arrived at regarding each other.
• Suspend judgment about the other person. Don’t react emotionally and make the situation worse.

Making a list helps us understand ourselves and how other people might see us. This step helps us notice that when we judge we might also make incorrect assumptions about others. Identifying and then suspending judgment opens the way to learning and understanding.

What is this about?

The goal of the third stage is to try to understand the Something’s Up! using intercultural tools. Examples of this are differences in:

• Language use (ways of asking questions, greeting, making requests)
• Body language (levels of eye contact, speaking volume)
• Time (what is early? on time? late? in both people’s cultures)

For a list of more intercultural tools for making sense please see the facilitator guide.

What is the shared goal?

In this part of the Something’s Up! Cycle, we look for a shared goal. Then we use the information we have learned from the “make sense” step to take action. Examples of this are:

1. Check perceptions
2. Clarify goals
3. Adapt behaviour