Continuing Professional Studies

OVERVIEW
This 2-day experiential workshop stresses the importance for leaders of developing the capacity to adapt: to be able to employ various strategies and tactics for conflict management effectively in organizations – in order to marshal their potential energy and avoid pitfalls.

Most conflicts in organizations (and particularly the more difficult ones) are up and down the hierarchy of power and authority. Often, those in high-power lose – they don’t get what they want, waste time, and fail to create value in the conflict. That’s right. They lose.

This module is based on decades of research and is grounded in practical experiences in organizational conflict. It includes access to an online self-assessment tool for evaluating current tendencies and capacities for navigating conflicts across power differences at work.


CIQ SESSION TOPICS will include:

• The Top Ten Conflict-Power Traps in Organizations: Why managers get stuck using the same conflict tactics  repeatedly, even when they often fail;
• The Mathematics of Emotions and Conflict: How emotions “pool” in work relationships and set the stage for either useful or disastrous conflicts;
• Your CIQ: An individualized profile detailing your tendencies, strengths and challenges for navigating power and conflict at work;
• The Seven Strategies of Conflict Intelligence: How to increase your repertoire of artful strategies and tactics for conflict management up, down and across the hierarchies of power at work;
• Increasing Adaptivity: How to get unstuck from habits of mind and action and learn to become more agile and adaptive in addressing the many different kinds of conflict we face daily at work;
• The CIQ Planning Framework: For preparing adaptively for important negotiations and conflict management processes;
• The Bottom Line: What to do when even being adaptive doesn’t work.

AUDIENCE

This workshop will be useful to leaders and managers who struggle with warring employees, hostile inter-departmental battles, or other divided groups within their organizations or communities that demand precious time and resources. It will also resonate with anyone who has found themselves in the midst of a top-down or bottom-up conflict and looking for relief from current circumstances.


WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Leaders and Executives in:
 

• Corporations
• HR
• Higher education
• Small businesses
• Startups
• Government
• Non-profits/NGOs

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this course, participating leaders will be able to demonstrate that they:

• Have a solid understanding of the opportunities and challenges of power and conflict at work.
• Have a working sense of their own tendencies, strengths and challenges for navigating power and conflict at work.
• Developed an understanding of the Seven Strategies for Conflict Intelligence and for employing them in adaptive ways in their place of work.
• Practiced skills and strategies with which they are not entirely comfortable, with the goal of becoming a more adaptive leader.
• Can utilize the CIQ Planning Framework to prepare to respond adaptively to important conflicts at work.
• Know the strategies and tactics available for when even being adaptive doesn’t help.

Key takeaways include:
The Six Commandments of Conflict Intelligence –

1. Know Thyself in Conflict
2. Know Thy Situation
3. Know Thy Strategies/Tactics
4. Know Thy Consequences of Thy Actions
5. Know Thy Bottom-line
6. Know More

Peter T. Coleman, Ph.D.
Director of the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (ICCCR)
Chair of the Advanced Consortium of Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity (AC4)
Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University Teachers College and at The Earth Institute at Columbia University

Dr. Peter T. Coleman holds a Ph.D. in Social/Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, and holds a joint-appointment at Teachers College and The Earth Institute, teaching courses in Conflict Resolution, Social Psychology, and Social Science Research. Dr. Coleman has conducted decades of research on social power and conflict resolution in his lab at ICCCR. He also edits the award-winning Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice (2000; 2006; forthcoming) and his most recent books include The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts (2011); Conflict, Justice, and Interdependence: The Legacy of Morton Deutsch (2011), and Psychological Contributions to Sustainable Peace (July, 2012). His newest books are Attracted to Conflict: Dynamics in the Emergence, Maintenance and Transformation of Destructive Social Relations (forthcoming in 2013), and (with Dr. Ferguson) Conflict Intelligence: Harnessing the Power of Conflict and Influence at Work (forthcoming in 2014). He has also authored over 70 journal articles and chapters and is a New York State Certified mediator and experienced consultant.


Robert Ferguson, Ph.D.
A professional therapist, coach, consultant and Instructor at the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (ICCCR), Teachers College, Columbia University. He is the author of several books on leadership.

Dr. Ferguson has practiced clinical psychology and executive coaching for over twenty years. He helps executives, managers, and entrepreneurs influence and motivate others more effectively. He also helps high-achieving individuals handle stress, deal with difficult people, and enhance emotional intelligence. As an expert on conflict, he teaches couples, business partners, teams, and executives how to resolve their differences so they can achieve shared goals.