Since 2009 I have been working as conflict facilitator. In many facilitation sessions I was able to ease conflict situations, support all involved parties with improving their communication and create new cooperation agreements.
Many of these experiences show the beneficial potential of settled disputes. On the other side, conflicts can also block energy and resources and become destructive. We all create our own distinct personal perspectives, needs and interests constantly. If these get in each other´s way and we feel restricted in our way to act or live our life, the potential for conflict escalation will rise.
In the long run, unresolved conflict situation might build up stress within a person. That´s why I emphasise on adressing, facilitating and deescalating existing conflicts.
From an organizational point of view, resource-oriented processing of different perspectives reinforces positive experiences:
- Those involved engage in a joint learning process on how to deal with different perspectives and can ideally use this knowledge in similar situations in the future.
- The team or organization discovers potentially hidden areas of tension that need to be addressed as well as open decisions that need to be made.
- Resolved conflicts can strengthen the relationships between those involved.
- A new cooperation agreement enables future collaboration.
My conflict facilitation includes:
- Understanding the dimensions, perspectives and history of the conflict
- Guided self-reflection of each party
- Supporting conflict parties in creating a new cooperation agreement
- Input on helpful theoretical models with respect to observation, evaluation and reflection of potentially conflict-situations in everyday´s life
Designing preventive measures to limit excessive escalation in the future