We bought a new stove last week. It has a lot of electronic bells and whistles. Our old stove, ca. 1974 (I know, I know), could never have dreamed of such gadgetry.
The old stove’s timer emitted a honking blast of noise that just kept going until one of us ran into the kitchen, hands over [...]

Kathy Sierra and her awful experience has been on my mind again lately, after learning that a dear friend has been cruelly and anonymously (what cowardice) harassed via cyberspace.
So when I opened my most recent addition of ACResolution, a magazine for dispute resolution professionals like me, I was encouraged to see that a new website [...]

If conflict resolution approaches for “dealing with difficult people” worked, we wouldn’t be here, almost 25 years after the book of a similar name, still trying to find the right path through workplace conflict.
They don’t work because there’s a missing ingredient: You. Your own “conflict stuff.”
What irritates you isn’t necessarily what irritates me. And what [...]

Years ago, I ran across material describing three different metaphors for conflict. I wish I could recall the source now (if you know it, please leave me a comment with the information and I’ll credit the source) because the third of those metaphors became a foundation for much of the way I work with [...]

Mediation is a voluntary, private conversation in which a trained professional, serving impartially, helps people talk about their dispute and explore mutually acceptable solutions.
While many people tend to associate mediation with very entrenched conflict or with formal grievances or litigation, proactive institutions are beginning to understand that mediation can serve a purpose before disputes get [...]

The Conflict Resolution Articles Vault is a monthly feature that dips into the archives and shares still-relevant articles from one year ago:
Negotiating Strategically: How to Keep Your Eyes on the Prize: How to avoid one of the most frequent mistakes people make during negotiations.
Conflict Avoidance Reason 1: It Will Hurt the Relationship: The first in [...]

I start every new term with a “mutual hopes and expectations” exercise for my new mediation grad students. I set aside time in the first class to ask what expectations they have of each other and of me. After giving them some “think time” to draft a short list, I ask them to share the [...]