Archives for Uncategorized

Promoting Your Practice—a Practitioner’s Perspective

Our certified users of both the Conflict Dynamics Profile® (CDP) and Mediation Training Institute (MTI) programs have a lot of valuable insight to provide to prospective clients. Improving self-awareness and developing conflict management and resolution skills can change people’s lives and improve the productivity of organizations. Before these positive results occur, you have to pique people’s interest in what you have to offer. A first step is finding out what is important to your prospective clients. Check their websites and review their annual reports to see what their key issues are. If they are concerned about improving productivity, you can… Continue Reading Promoting Your Practice—a Practitioner’s Perspective
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Categories: Practitioners and Uncategorized.

MTI at the Southern California Mediation Association Conference

CCD & MTI had the opportunity to present and exhibit at the 2015 Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA) Conference at Pepperdine Law School on November 6th. CCD & MTI director Craig Runde teamed up with former MTI training director Dr. Debra Dupree to present to attendees on How Conflict Competence and Emotional Intelligence Affects Workplace Mediators. Afterwards participants were able to stop by the MTI exhibit to discuss training options. Seasoned mediators were interested in MTI’s train-the-trainer program which would allow them to expand their portfolio of services to include training clients how to deal with conflicts more effectively by… Continue Reading MTI at the Southern California Mediation Association Conference
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Categories: Practitioners and Uncategorized.

What’s the difference between Empathy and Sympathy, and why has Sympathy got such a bad name?

Have you ever wondered about the difference between empathy and sympathy? And if you have, why sympathy has got such a bad name? I addressed these very questions in the recent pilot of my online course that focused on Challenging Workplace Relationships, but was prompted to write this after watching a short online video narrated by Dr. Brené Brown. In the video Dr. Brown says that empathy fuels connection and sympathy drives disconnection. To empathize, she says, we must “internalize the feelings of another.” In the examples she gives she suggests that we sympathize when we avoid acknowledging others difficult… Continue Reading What’s the difference between Empathy and Sympathy, and why has Sympathy got such a bad name?
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Categories: Communication and Behavior, Managing Emotions, and Uncategorized.

Book Review: Hold on to Yourself Through Tough Conversations

The Center was fortunate to get an early look at Julia Menard and Judy Zehr’s new book, Hold on to Yourself Through Tough Conversations, which comes out in early February from Balboa Press. It is a wonderful new offering that helps explain and provide pathways for addressing the emotional challenges we all face in conflict settings. The book draws from a multitude of rich and diverse sources including Jon Kabat Zinn (mindfulness), Laurel Mellin (emotional brain training), Daniel Goleman (emotional intelligence), Daniel Siegel (interpersonal biology), John Gottman (couples communications), Marshall Rosenberg (nonviolent communications), and others. It provides an in-depth but… Continue Reading Book Review: Hold on to Yourself Through Tough Conversations
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Categories: Culture, Managing Emotions, Research, and Uncategorized.

Promoting Your Practice

We covered a lot of great topics at the 2015 Practitioner Conference. One of our most popular sessions was the table talk entitled “Marketing your Conflict Practice” hosted by Matt Dreger, the Director of Digital Marketing for the Division of Executive and Continuing Education, and Dorie Michalik, the Assistant Director of Product Management for the Center for Conflict Dynamics and Mediation Training Institute. At these sessions, seasoned practitioners shared their thoughts with the group, and the CCD staff gained valuable insight into the support our certified partners need. A large list of ideas emerged from these session, take a look… Continue Reading Promoting Your Practice
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Categories: Practitioners and Uncategorized.

Helping Managers Learn How to Wait

In MTI’s Manager-as-Mediator course, managers have three tasks to accomplish in the three-way meeting with their employees: Keep disputants engaged in the Essential Process (by preventing violations of the Cardinal Rules) Support Conciliatory Gestures, and Wait! (remember the abbreviation W.A.I.T. = “Why Am I Talking”) While each of these steps is conceptually straightforward, they can each be challenging to perform. In many cases, the most difficult one for managers is the last one. It is simple – as long as the parties are engaged in face to face talking about the problem and there are no conciliatory gestures that are… Continue Reading Helping Managers Learn How to Wait
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Categories: Communication and Behavior, Practitioners, and Uncategorized.

Trends in Conflict Research and the CDP Model

In the late 1990s, when the Conflict Dynamics Profile was originally developed, organizational research in conflict had begun to focus on the concept of conflict types. Three main types were described: task conflict which involved differences over substantive issues, process conflict which dealt with how to organize various functions, and relationship conflict which focused on interpersonal problems. At first it was thought that task conflict could lead to enhanced productivity, improved creativity, and better decision making. Relationship conflict and to a lesser extent process conflict were seen as producing negative outcomes – both in terms of productivity and morale. In… Continue Reading Trends in Conflict Research and the CDP Model
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Categories: Practitioners, Research, and Uncategorized.