By Steven Krolak
(NEW ALBANY, Ind.)–Be it ever so successful, every organization in America deals with conflict. A lot of conflict. In fact, by some estimates, up to 40 percent of managers’ time is devoted to addressing interpersonal conflict in the workplace.
Conflict also runs rampant in our individual, domestic and civic relationships. And on the political stage, narratives of divisiveness have become a fixture of the American story.
But conflict doesn’t need to be destructive. With the proper tools, adversarial stances can be transformed into conversations for the common good.
To help drive this transformation in our own region, IU Southeast is hosting a one-day workshop, Resolving Conflict: An Introduction to Building Harmonious Relationships and Civil Dialogue. The workshop, which takes place on March 6, with the assistance of a grant from Caesar’s Foundation of Floyd County, will educate participants from the community about building successful relationships and managing conflict.
“Based on research into bullying, proper methods of de-escalating conflict, and preventing communication breakdowns, this workshop advances our most up-to-date practices in communication and conflict mediation and fulfills the needs of individuals to build better relationships and find ways to communicate more effectively,” said Kelly Ryan, dean of the School of Social Sciences, which is co-sponsoring the event.
The workshop will be led by Dr. John-Robert Curtin, a trained mediator, adjunct faculty member at IU Southeast and expert on bullying. Curtin is a founding member of the 4Civility Institute, a not-for-profit organization that provides training, software systems, restorative justice and Behavioral Transition/Transformation Practice solutions to schools, businesses and organizations.
The workshop will focus on topics such as:
- Perception awareness
- Responding to challenges
- Motivations and forgiveness
- Expressive body language
- Becoming a trust leader
- Incidents and drama triangle
- Facilitating productive group discussions
Thank to generous funding, 55 individuals will be able to attend the workshop for free.
“Dialogue takes work–the work of listening without judgment and a willingness to find common solutions,” Ryan said. “This workshop gives people tools to create effective communication styles that impact their ability to craft persuasive messaging while also building solutions.”
Visit the Conflict Resolution Event webpage to learn more or to register for the workshop!