Evolution of a conflict resolution blog

In northern New England, my home, February is the last cold gasp of winter before spring’s month heralds renewal. It’s no wonder that every February finds my thoughts circling around direction and renewal of my own. This February is no different, but the result is.

The blog at Lenski.com will be no more.

In its place is a new site and a new direction, for both my writing and my conflict resolution work: ConflictZen.com.

A decade in to my private conflict resolution practice, I find myself with a healthy business that gives me the financial latitude to change what I’m doing in order to respond to my own heart and my clients’ evolving interests. And I have clarity I didn’t have before: I have something to offer that’s uniquely me, and speaks to my changing interests and seasoned experiences. I know how to help people really learn, choose and adopt new behaviors that serve them better in conflict. And I know how to address more than just disputes in families and organizations (a mediator’s usual fare)…I know how to work with disputes that have evolved into states of conflict.

Conflict Zen is the intersection of the threads of my professional life: teacher, professional mediator, executive coach, and writer. It is the place I will offer up simple, mindful practices for keeping your balance and changing your reaction in conflict. It’s a site for anyone who wants to keep their balance better during difficult conversations, including mediators, who make up some of Lenski.com blog readers.

How will your articles and writing change on the new site?

My voice is my voice and will remain a constant. The focus of my articles from here forward, however, will shift. In place of generic conflict resolution tips and strategies, I’ll be offering up approaches and inspiration to help you manage the only thing you really can manage during conflict: yourself. When you change how you dance with your partner, you change the dance.

Why not just change your focus here on Lenski.com?

It’s the difference between the fresh start of repainting and rearranging your living room and the fresh start of moving to a new home in a new town. I’ve tweaked, updated and upgraded Lenski.com many times since I first created the site in 1995 and put a blog here in 2002. The look has changed and the audience I write for has changed. But the content focus hasn’t changed much before now.

I want to signal – to you and to myself – that the new work I’m doing is a sea-change in scope.

Why conflict zen?

My writing has always served two masters: You and me. You, in that you have interest in effective conflict resolution in your life, your family, your workplace or business, and/or your community, and it’s what’s drawn you to subscribe to my articles. Me, in that my writing helps me explore ways to frame what works for my current clients so that I can share it even more effectively with future clients.

But I have always puzzled over the paradox of an imperfect human (me) offering up conflict resolution advice to others. It’s important to me that you understand I don’t come to you from the high place of interpersonal perfection, but instead as an equal human in front of you. I happen to know a thing or two about conflict resolution because I’ve spent two decades studying and successfully practicing it in a professional capacity. But I have yearned for a place where I would frame my work as a teacher who is also your co-learner. Conflict Zen will be that place.

I also wanted to juxtapose two ideas that initially don’t seem connected, but then inspire deeper consideration. And, from my years as a mediator, conflict resolution coach, trainer and professor, I’ve come to believe that what many people really want during conflict is the kind of centered, balanced and intentional reaction that Zen practices teach. It’s not a site about Zen practice, but does draw on a few Zen principles I have found resonate with folks interested in changing their engagement of conflict, regardless of interest in or practice of any faith tradition. You can read more about the idea behind Conflict Zen at Why Conflict Zen?

What about subscriptions to Lenski.com articles?

I hope to transfer current subscriptions to the new location automatically in the coming week. If I’m successful with the technical wrangling needed to make that so, you won’t have to do anything to continue to receive my articles (an aside: if any of you reading this are FeedBurner redirect pros willing to give me some tutelage, I’d love to hear from you.

If you’d like to update your subscription yourself, here are the Conflict Zen email and RSS subscription links:

For those of you who receive new articles via my 10-year-old e-zine (not available to more recent subscribers), you need do nothing; I’ve already made that conversion.

What will happen to Lenski.com?

It will stay right where it is and be converted to a basic informational site about my business, with links to ConflictZen.com and my blog for mediators, MediatorTech.com.

Articles posted on Lenski.com, however, will eventually be moved over to the Conflict Zen site. For the time being you can still access them via the Archives link. When they’re moved, I’ll place a note to that effect on the Archives page. [Update: All articles have now been moved and can be found in the Conflict Zen Archives.]

I hope you’ll join me over at Conflict Zen and help me spread the word about both the new blog and the new direction I’m taking with my conflict resolution work. I’m so appreciative of your readership, camaraderie, and contributions to building conversation here at Lenski.com. On to the future,