Conflicts - Sustained or Resolved?
We just finished the first two days of our conflict management course the other day, and it was a lot of fun. Conflict? Fun? Yes. There is a link. You can see the link when you think about Bill Ury’s 18 camels story. It brings out very nicely the startling difference between being mired in conflict and resolving it. Moving from “mired in” to “resolved” depends on our capacity unleash creativity. I would put it this way. People whose thinking is dominated by the left side (mechanical) tend to get mired in conflict. People who can use their right side more are better at getting beyond conflict. BTW, I am not saying that left side thinking is useless. I am saying it is dangerous when it dominates.
So, how to get better use of the right side? Well, John Cleese has a few words to say about that.