Monday, November 17, 2008

Conflict Resolution

Ok, so we have all been rudely confronted before, be it from a parent, a boy friend, a girl friend, a friend, a sister, a brother.....you get the point. We have all had to deal with a conflict before and because we are so different, we all handle our conflicts in our own unique different ways. I am in Emerging Leaders and today's leadership lesson was on conflict resolution. We were taught the many different to handle conflict, I find them valuable and would like to share them all with you.( I do not take these styles as my work, I received a handout from the speaker)

They include:
-Forcing: attempt to coerce people into doing or thinking something.
-Confronting: believe in openly communicating to surface any unwarranted assumptions about a situation and then deal with obstacles in a positive way.
-Compromising: seek a middle ground solution so that there is a win-win result;assume that it is bettered to have a watered down solution than none at all.
-Withdrawing: try to avoid any disagreements or uncomfortable situations by not engaging anyone in a conflict situation
-Smoothing: work at making everyone happy; try to avoid anyone being uncomfortable by looking at the positive and not dealing directly with conflict issues.

 Have you ever taken the moral high road when being confronted? Have you ever just risen above the occasion  because you knew it was the right thing to do and then been attacked for it?I so miserably recently was and  I came to the conclusion that sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all.
 

1 comment:

J.D. Steinbeck said...

I have this uncanny ability to fight back with words when I feel threatned or attacked. Call it primal instinct if you will.

I just have a hard time taking the so called "high road" because it feels so much better to tell someone to shut up rather than walk away and not say anything.