• Skill-building for individuals, including constructive confrontation and improved listening;
• Making agreements about how issues will be addressed in the future;
• Developing an understanding of the ways that personal styles and temperament affect communication;
• Learning to appreciate different approaches to conflict;
• Setting up new systems to improve communication;
• Building an appreciation of how differences – the multiple dimensions of diversity – come into play.

Our conflict resolution processes move people’s energy in a positive, constructive direction, aimed toward resolution. What a relief from the toxic, destructive effect conflict can have on an organization! Conflict resolution processes cultivate a climate where there is an assumption about the positive intentions of others and a storehouse of goodwill between participants that they can call on in the future; this, along with improved skills and systems, will greatly diminish future conflicts. But not rid you of them entirely – conflict is inevitable.

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This service might be for you if:

• There is a “walking on eggshells” feeling in the workplace.
• The tension with one or more people is so bad that it is resulting in stress related symptoms like sleeplessness, outbursts, stomachaches, headaches, etc.
• Agreements don’t get implemented because people are not really committed to them.
• People talk behind each other’s backs, and your workplace if rife with gossip and rumor.
• You have an “either she/he goes or I do” feeling, even though you actually like your work.
• There are important matters that don’t get discussed because they are too close to some longstanding unresolved conflict – “we don’t want to go there…”
• There are significant turf issues with another department or unit that you must work with to serve your students or constituents.
• On a continuum, the climate in your environment is somewhere between unpleasant and downright hostile.
• There are people in your area who won’t talk with or even greet each other.
• There are people in your area who yell and scream, are blaming or condescending, won’t listen to others, and always think they are right.
• There is a general sense of discomfort but it is not clear why.
• Everyone avoids seeing, naming or discussing the “elephant in the room.”
• Formal or informal power differentials result in one or more people feeling silenced.
• You feel emotionally or physically threatened.
• You realize you haven’t been completely open and honest; you have let resentments or real issues fester and believe outside support could help you do that.
• People say one thing and do another.
• There is a stuck or paralyzed feeling in the environment.