Yesterday I took the train to Gothenburg to work with a workplace conflict that was affecting people in a negative way. I had the chance to interview some of the people involved before hand and then had the chance to spend two hours with some of them.
At the same time as I could feel the pain the conflict was causing, it was also felt good to be part of facilitating an open communication between the parties. They really gave each other some valuable feedback about how the perceive each other. Something which I think is often forgetting in our work places.
They also had the chance to work on their listening skills. A lot of the times we do not really listen, instead we have our own answer playing in our head and assume we know what it being said. This more active listening that we used is inspired by Imago, a method used both in couples therapy and in workplace conflict management.