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Understanding Transference and Countertransference in Conflict Management
Today, I would like discuss the concepts of transference and countertransference in conflict management. This topic is rarely taught in training programs but often arises—usually unrecognized—in conflict management: conflict resolution, conflict mediation, and conflict coaching. Transference is an unconscious process where a person remembers feelings from a person in the past and projects those feelings…
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Transformative Mediation Theory
Transformative Mediation Theory Today I want to discuss another mediation theory that concentrates on the clients’ conflict interaction and assists them in improving that interaction. Originally developed by Bush and Folger in the early 1990s and further expanded upon by other mediation theorists, it has become an effective theory in mediation and has been updated…
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Critical Questions for Perspective Taking – Part 2
Critical Questions for Perspective Taking in Conflict Coaching – Part 2 Today, I would like to continue the discussion on asking critical questions of yourself as a conflict coach and asking the same questions of your client adapted from Jennifer Brown’s (2019) book, How to be an inclusive leader: Your role in creating cultures of…
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Critical Questions for Perspective Taking – Part 1
Critical Questions for Perspective Taking in Conflict Coaching – Part 1 Today, I would like to discuss asking critical questions of yourself for perspective taking in conflict In Jennifer Brown’s (2019) book, How to be an inclusive leader: Your role in creating cultures of belonging where everyone can thrive, she lays out some questions leaders…
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Dealing with Anger
Last post, I presented a scenario on communication in marriages and provided some background on issues as well as strategies for using communication more effectively. This week, I will continue with the scenario described below but I will discuss strategies for dealing with anger, in particular. To remind you: In this scenario, Merv and Martha…
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Communication in Marriage
I have discussed communication in various formats but today I would like to zero in on communication in marriages that could lead to marital breakdowns. Next post, I will continue with the scenario described below but I will discuss strategies for dealing with anger. In this scenario, Merv and Martha who have two children, Melissa…
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Communication: Three Ways to Improve it
Last post, I discussed Roger Fisher and Scott Brown’s barriers to communication and this week, I would like to further their argument by outlining ways we can improve communication. According to Fisher and Brown, barriers to communication include the assumption that we do not need to talk to the other person about an issue, communicating…
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Communication Barriers
Last week, I presented some information on the role of negotiation in mediation. This week I would like to discuss the role of communication barriers in mediation. In their (1988) book, Getting together: Building relationships as we negotiate, Roger Fisher and Scott Brown outline barriers to communication and ways we can improve communication. Communication is…
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The Role of Negotiation in Mediation
Today I would like to present information on the role of negotiation in mediation based on Roger Fisher’s and William Ury groundbreaking text, Getting to yes, and to lay out their central tenets and their relationship to conflict management. Fisher and Ury founded and continue to work at Harvard Negotiation Project and were pioneers in…
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Conflict in the Workplace
Conflict happens all the time and especially in the workplace. The best approach for dealing with conflict in the workplace is to identify what is happening and to use assumptions that are being made as a focus for the conflict resolution. For the purpose of this first post, I will provide an example from when…
