admin | August 3rd
For weeks, we have been subjected to the negotiations between Congressional leaders and President Obama over the debt ceiling and federal budget. It was a roller coaster ride with a lot of tense words and finger pointing. And in the end (which is not really the end), do we have anything to show for it? [...]
admin | June 15th
When conflict arises, people begin a negotiation process to resolve the conflict. The process may be spoken or unspoken depending upon level of conflict. The process itself shall be partially dependent upon the level of trust between the people. Therefore, if you build your trust level with those around you on a daily basis, it [...]
admin | June 1st
Many times a solution to a conflict requires creative thinking. Many of us have a difficult time, however, being creative. Our daily tasks encourage us to be ritualistic, methodical, and predictable. It simply makes life easier. However, when faced with a conflict, it’s usually time to put in gear our creative thinking. Recent Amazing Race [...]
admin | May 13th
You have heard about saving your money to prepare for war. How about saving your money, and improving your skills and resources to prepare for peace? Do you have a peace chest to handle conflict? Developing a peace chest is a decision to focus on teamwork, problem solving, and interest based negotiation rather than threats [...]
admin | April 15th
Jason Fried is a columnist for Inc. Magazine, an author, and the co-founder of 37signals, a software firm. Fried almost had a big conflict on his hands, and an apology saved his company from even bigger headaches. The apology resolved his conflict, and you can read about it here: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/how-to-turn-disaster-into-gold.html Fried describes that his company [...]
admin | February 26th
This past week, we all witnessed a seriously nasty conflict unravel right before our eyes. The star of CBS’s highest rated comedy, Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen, blew up at his bosses, and in the process, the show appears to be on life support. Isn’t it the truth that we all saw this [...]
admin | December 8th
Some people want conflict. They have just never really learned any other way. I came out of the movie theater with my family, and the other car was parked too close to mine on the driver’s side. I gently opened my door part-way to not hit the other car, and I squeezed into my car. [...]
admin | November 3rd
You can’t ignore the “Feelings” person in the negotiation room. Bill Eddy, the President of High Conflict Institute and author of numerous books, describes potential parties to a negotiation as a “math” person and as a “feelings” person. He warns that the differences in “math” people and “feelings” people can unnecessarily block a settlement. Eddy says [...]
admin | June 25th
People don’t think before they communicate. If you consider that to be a truth in all of your communications, you will avoid potential conflict. Many times somebody says something that offends you at some level, and your first reaction is to…well…react. React with anger, confusion, and maybe ridicule. If you stop to consider, however, [...]
admin | March 25th
Everything I know about creativity for negotiations… I forgot in kindergarten. Creativity, however, can be critical to finding solutions in the negotiation process. Successful negotiations typically require us to change our thinking process in order to move us away from positions and towards exploring solutions to resolve concerns. Fortunately, Roger von Oech has written A [...]
