Crafting Solutions to Conflict

The tragic fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris highlighted some positive lessons to reduce conflict and mitigate damage. Control what you can. Adopt the good, though not perfect, solution. Start the process of improving a proposed plan, with a goal and a timeframe.

From life in an intentional community with his young family to his current passion as a patient-caregiver activist, Danny van Leeuwen, aka Health Hats, has had an appreciation for governance. Good governance can greatly reduce the likelihood of damaging conflict, and allow solutions to conflict to be crafted when needed. Danny has understood the importance of rules for a community to follow and th...

Finding a way to broach the subject of an ongoing simmering conflict can be difficult; creating a catalyst can help. If there is a time-limited opportunity to address the conflict, or a deadline imposed from the outside, it might be fairly easy. Otherwise, how do we get past an implicit or explicit “why now”? It may work to use a specific date like Reconciliation Day (see the April 2 bonus episode...

Denial can be an easy approach to conflict, but not a very good one. Pretending that there is no conflict or that an admitted conflict has no negative impact is rarely effective. Recognizing that a conflict exists and that it is doing real damage is important. You can then determine what the conflict is costing you – the first step in deciding if you want to address the conflict and attempt to res...

Bruce Hammer, based on years of experience as a psychologist, therapist, leadership and organizational consultant, offers more insights on effective interpersonal communication. Today’s episode is part two of my conversation with Bruce. Don’t miss part one, which is the regularly scheduled episode just before this one. (There’s a bonus episode in between because that covers a time-sensitive topic....

Advice columnist Ann Landers declared April 2 as Reconciliation Day for family and friends. Thirty years ago, a reader wrote in to the syndicated columnist and suggested that a day be set aside for family and friends to extend – and to accept – the olive branch of reconciliation on a day named Reconciliation Day. Three years later, Ann Landers declared it an annual tradition. In some countries, Re...

Bruce Hammer, based on years of experience as a psychologist, therapist, leadership and organizational consultant, explores communication mindset and a number of factors that can help us communicate more effectively. This episode is part one of my conversation with Bruce. There was so much good – as in practical and positive – information that I decided to deliver it in easy-to-digest bites. In pa...

The Good Friday agreement, signed on Good Friday in 1998, brought an end to The Troubles – violence that had plagued Ireland for thirty years. A very powerful and positive illustration of conflict resolution! Former US Senator George Mitchell played an essential role in bringing the parties together to reach agreement. His comments about conflict are inspirational: "I believe there's no such...

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Benjamin Franklin is credited with coining this phrase, in the context of comparing fire prevention costs to the costs of dealing with the consequences of fire. Destructive conflict can be seen the same way: prevention can be less costly – in a number of ways – than dealing with the consequences. Some practical approaches to prevention can be worth...

Tara is an experienced litigator, based in White Plains, NY. When we spoke, Tara had recently completed mediation training with Brad Heckman and Christine Daly at the New York Peace Institute. https://nypeace.org/ The Institute is a respected provider of mediation training and conflict resolution services, based in NYC. Although Tara has frequently represented clients in mediations where she serve...

A pachyderm, specifically a mystery animal that turns out to be an elephant, presents an opportunity to consider different perspectives. An old parable from India describes the efforts of multiple people to make heads or tails (pun intended) out of a mystery animal. It’s an elephant, though the different, individual, perspectives don’t help nearly as much as the information gained when all of thos...

Pachyderms, specifically elephants in the room, present an opportunity to think about moving past denial and avoidance of conflict. Many of us know about the idea of the elephant in the room: the large issue that no one wants to talk about, or even acknowledge. I’ve seen this elephant more than a few times in my work as a mediator and I have some ideas to share about how to start to understand it...

Jeff Savlov provides insights and inspiration from his work with two brothers selling a business. Jeff’s experience in family business and wealth consulting allowed him to both skillfully assist these siblings and to recognize that they exhibited a powerful collection of positive traits that helped the process. Disclaimer: though wonderful, it is highly unusual to see, in one situation, all the tr...

We often assume that conflict is always bad – and what we see around us backs that up. Let’s look at some other perspectives. Conflict can be constructive; at its best it leads to innovation and progress. Because it has so much good potential, it’s worth the effort to do conflict right: with respectful communication and interactions.

Dispute, conflict, or both. Understanding the difference can help you to better address a challenging situation. A dispute and a conflict can mean different things. Court cases are usually thought of as disputes, and there are many ways they are resolved other than through a trial and judgment. You can learn more about (alternative) dispute resolution options here: https://www.americanbar.org/grou...

Marc Halpert, passionate mulitpreneur, shares some thoughts on effectively preventing and managing conflicts for his clients. Marc has a passion for customer service. Preventing conflicts through careful planning, resolving them through immediate action, and learning from what does and doesn't work all help. Additionally, Marc recognizes that clients approach challenge in different ways and modifi...

I have been fascinated by conflict for more than 30 years. That fascination might be enough for a podcast. But there’s more. I feel some frustration about suggestions that conflict always spirals down to hopeless despair in no time. And I have a wealth of experience, education, teaching, speaking, writing, and consulting around conflict. To top it off, I’m still learning and plan to always keep le...

What’s in a name – specifically, the name of this podcast? Why “Crafting”? Why “Solutions” And what about that “Conflict” concept? Each one of these words will help to explain what this podcast is all about.

A new podcast about practical and positive perspectives on conflict, hosted by Jane Beddall. Join Jane for a fresh look at conflict, one without the doom and gloom.