I am publishing this post just before Thanksgiving Day, a day that can present a potent mix of joy and aggravation. Although these ideas are especially applicable on that day, they are worth considering for a day featuring a family event or any day at all. In my work to prevent and resolve […]
Do-it-yourself mediator
I was struck last week at the panel presentation on conflict by how hungry folks can be for tips on how to handle conflict on our own with techniques that mediators use. When a mediator is at work, it’s an essential part of the process that the person is neutral and not a party to […]
The Dynamic Nature of Conflict
People thinking and talking about conflict often address the idea of the dynamics of a group that is in internal conflict. How these people have interacted in the past and their assumed roles within the group — whether a family, a business, or some other type of group — both have a profound impact on […]
Conflict prevention v. conflict avoidance
When I give public talks on conflict and mediation, I often begin with some tips about avoiding conflicts in the first place. As you might imagine, the tips include ideas about effective communication and understanding the perspectives of other people. I also discuss the idea that conflicts are a part of life — they can’t […]
TV Mediator: “Fairly [Fictional] Legal” – Part II
Last time I wrote about the new TV show “Fairly Legal” inaccurately portraying mediators (or at least, this particular star of the only TV show about mediation to date) as hating lawyers and the law. The wildly atypical glamor of this mediator’s life we can chalk up to TV, but this misconception about mediation and […]
Conflict avoidance and mediation
It seems a natural instinct for some (most?) people to try to avoid conflict. They will excuse bad behavior, wait for things to get better on their own (with no real reason for a bad situation to improve), engage in denial, learn to live with it,make unreasonable compromises, etc., etc. Rarely does conflict avoidance lead […]
Nonprofits, mergers, collaborations and conflict
The Hartford Business Journal recently ran an article titled “Financial Cloud Pushing Nonprofits to Merge.” In the article, reporter Gregory Seay explored the pressure on Connecticut nonprofits to merge as a possible solution to financial stress as donations and government funding decline in the face of rising needs. Experts caution that merging operations won’t necessarily […]
