Policy dispute mediators reveal their 'secret sauce' for bridging partisan and other divides

After a decade of getting people on opposite ideological sides to find middle ground on some of the country's most divisive policy fights, the nonprofit mediator organization Convergence has decided to celebrate by revealing the "secret sauce" to its collaborative success.

Five people who have first-hand experience with the organization's methodology spoke about what sets its techniques apart at a 10-year anniversary symposium in Washington on Thursday.

The sharing was designed to help others whose work is mired on the long roster of intractable policy disputes, including on many of...