Exploring Conflict Engagement in Workplace Mediation
Last month my colleague posted a blog and hosted a webinar exploring the question of whether the language we use to talk about conflict limits the outcomes in conflict resolution and whether the term Conflict Engagement might open more possibilities. This subject, combined with some very unsatisfactory recent mediations, has…
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We’re Hiring: Program Manager
ADR Vantage, Inc. has an immediate opening for a Program Manager in its Washington, DC office to support its efforts to provide high-quality and effective collaborative solutions in the workplace. The Program Manager, working under the supervision of the Director of Programs, will balance time between direct client work, case…
Conflict Engagement: Changing our language to change our attitudes and approaches to conflict
Why is it so challenging for us to develop productive and meaningful approaches to conflict when conflict, in varying degrees, is something we live with daily? Conflict is a normal and inevitable aspect of our lives that can be a stimulus for positive change, and yet, the language we use…
Effective Listening Means Helping Others Feel Heard
Having been a mediator for nearly eleven years, I can’t say that I have seen it all, but I’ve certainly found myself amid plenty of intense conflicts. I’ve sat calmly at a table while people a foot away from me stood screaming into each other’s faces, or pounded on the…
Cultivating our talent for Active Listening
Listening or active silence is like a “wonder drug” for communication. Staying silent but attentive to conversations, staying curious and asking questions to draw out others and clarify meaning, and sharing our own views as a reflection of what has been said, opens new possibilities. It helps people feel their…
Deep Listening
In this quiet month of August, it’s a good time to reconsider the art and practice of listening. Let’s kick it off with a proposal to update the phrase “Active Listening” to “Deep Listening” or listening to understand. This differs from the transactional way we too often listen when, rather…
We’re Hiring: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
ADR Vantage, Inc. has an immediate opening for a Business Development Manager in Washington, DC with a background in professional services, preferably Organizational Development, Conflict Resolution, Training, Coaching or related. We are committed to our mission of helping people work better together, and our new team member must share the…
Do you have a fixed or a growth mindset?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, and what it teaches about the role of mindset in our embrace of the new, sometimes hard, and always unknown of transition. Those are the very conditions that often trigger a fixed-mindset in which it’s…
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Transitions in the Workplace
Change isn’t necessarily hard. That might sound counter to common knowledge because we’ve all experienced change that feels grueling. Even changes that are well-conceived strategic initiatives are met with opposition and resistance, resulting in protracted implementation phases. The pain point in change is usually not in accepting the new, but…
Employee Recognition: Make it Meaningful
“It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” The quote above is likely advice meant for leaders. It has been attributed to two U.S. presidents, as well as several religious leaders, and one author. Since its source can’t be proven, whoever said it first…