The Opportunity of Conflict - Dates TBA

WAVE’s particular context is the opportunity that conflict creates when it emerges (as it inevitably does) in any human community, organization or group. Grounding the conversation in this inevitability, the training first normalizes conflict by seeking to challenge typical approaches to conflict as something to avoid, silence or resolve. These stifling contexts force groups into a cycle of suppression/surface/suppression, where the opportunity of conflict is never embraced let alone incorporated into the essential evolution of effective human groups. Building on this new framework, participants are challenged to 1) lean-into conflict using curiosity in order to see the “concern behind the complaint” and to 2) reframe conflict by recognizing the real opportunity of embracing conflict as an authentic contributor to the goals every group is trying so hard to achieve. An example of this relates to how we have recently learned to listen to the voices of those who have been traditionally suppressed and have challenged our communities to tolerate the conflict that emerges along with these voices. In almost every case as the conflict is acknowledged and explored with curiosity, we find new opportunities to grow. In short, when we respond with curiosity to someone’s complaint (even if it is about us), we instantly create the possibility of effective partnership. When we lean in, we see that our goals and theirs overlap in ways that point the way forward to a shared (not conflict free) community.