{"id":195614,"date":"2024-06-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=195614"},"modified":"2024-06-08T01:11:48","modified_gmt":"2024-06-08T01:11:48","slug":"fort-cavazos-seminar-explores-alternatives-to-conflict-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=195614","title":{"rendered":"Fort Cavazos seminar explores alternatives to conflict management"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Paul Firman, chief of conflict management, dispute resolution education and training at the U.S. Air Force Negotiation Center, guides volunteers through a conflict resolution exercise during the Equal Employment Opportunity professional development seminar organized by the EEO Office May 29, 2024, at the Lone Star Conference Center at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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\n Paul Firman, chief of conflict management, dispute resolution education and training at the U.S. Air Force Negotiation Center, engages with audience members during the Equal Employment Opportunity professional development seminar to help Soldiers and civilians discover alternative ways to manage conflict May 29, 2024, at the Lone Star Conference Center at Fort Cavazos Texas.
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The Fort Cavazos Equal Employment Opportunity Office hosted a professional development seminar May 29 at the Lone Star Conference Center on post to help Soldiers and civilians at the Great Place discover alternate ways to manage conflict.<\/p>\n

The training is part of an effort to educate Soldiers and civilians on managing conflict utilizing alternative dispute resolution, explained seminar facilitator and guest speaker Paul Firman, chief of conflict management, dispute resolution education and training at the U.S. Air Force Negotiation Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked a joint effort across the Department of Defense to help bring some of these skill sets to people across the entire DOD and the federal government,\u201d Firman explained. \u201cWhat an incredible opportunity to build curriculum and try to help deliver some of these concepts to people so that we can think about how we are managing conflict and what we could do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his article, \u201cConflict Management: And the Air Force Leader,\u201d Firman referenced a study by the Myers-Briggs Assessment and the Thomas-Kilmannn Conflict Instrument that reported U.S. employees spent 2.8 hours per week dealing with conflict, the time equivalent to approximately $359 billion in lost productivity or 385 million lost workdays.<\/p>\n

The essay went on to state fear of reprisal and perceived lack of support from the chain of command are reasons incidents often go unreported.<\/p>\n

Firman said the goal of the training is to equip leaders with the skills to manage conflict at the lowest possible level to hopefully avoid an EEO complaint.<\/p>\n

He shared through the training, he hopes to work on developing lessons that help peers, subordinates and leaders to create and implement a process of resolving disputes with in-depth communication.<\/p>\n

Firman noted lack of communication is often at the core of many disputes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see the disconnect in how people communicate. How people hear each other is not about what someone says, but often how what someone is saying is being received,\u201d Firman said. \u201cOur role is to open up lines of communication, where they start to figure out what\u2019s going on below the surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we start to treat people in a way that changes the art of communication from being a good speaker to being a much better listener, we\u2019re starting to solve some of the trust issues across the DOD,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

To get to the foundation of the conflict, trust must be established, Firman asserted.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what type of problem-solving methodology or conflict management skills you\u2019re using, trust is critical,\u201d he stressed. \u201cIf you want to build trust and rapport in your organization, we have to remember that it\u2019s not just what we say as leaders, it\u2019s how what we say lands with the people we\u2019re speaking to.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he moved through the audience and engaged with attendees, Firman explained conflict resolution is resolving an issue in a way all parties find acceptable, and healthy negotiation with a mediator, or someone who acts as the go-between to facilitate mutually acceptable agreements, is a vital technique in achieving this goal.<\/p>\n

He supported this theory with an exercise involving three volunteers acting as mediator, supervisor and employee resolving a dispute.<\/p>\n

He repeated the exercise with different groups to highlight the difference in how each role resolved conflict and to underscore the fact the technique is not one size fits all.<\/p>\n

Celis Marie Rivera, Warrior Way Fitness Center manager, shared she felt the training underscored the importance of communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always speaking; we don\u2019t have a lot of seminars teaching us how to listen,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re a team so there is always going to be conflict. As a manager, it helps me deal with conflict and better serve and understand my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firman admitted the methods to managing conflict are just as diverse as the employees, but there are some key aspects he encourages leaders to implement when resolving conflict.<\/p>\n

Set the tone<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is important to create an atmosphere conducive to good communication. Leaders should share why they are there and allow the parties to present an opening statement explaining what brought them there as well. The goal is to start proceedings with open dialogue to establish comfort and build trust.<\/p>\n

Encourage joint discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Encourage parties to speak openly or privately if preferred, and ask probing questions to get information to help facilitate communication. The goal is to make the parties feel comfortable and supported to ascertain the root of the issue.<\/p>\n

Utilize negotiation<\/strong><\/p>\n

After leaders have established a mood conducive to civil communication, and the parties have been heard, the goal is to find a resolution all parties are agreeable to and move towards an overall resolution.<\/p>\n

Firman noted the concept of negotiation is often lost in the military as following orders is integral to ensuring continuity and safety within the ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s because we got a mission to get done, and, sometimes, the mission actually drives what seems to be so much more important than sometimes dealing with people,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

But this method isn\u2019t always ideal in the civilian sector as the need for someone to listen is often what is desired most when resolving disputes, Firman expressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you need an ear, you get a mouth \u2026,\u201d he added. \u201cBecome better listeners and truly understand that the art of communication is not what you say, it\u2019s how you try to understand someone else\u2019s perspective before you just simply try to be understood.<\/p>\n

\u201c… If we could do a little better of that in the DOD, we would start to reduce some of that conflict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Paul Firman, chief of conflict management, dispute resolution education and training at the U.S. Air Force Negotiation Center, guides volunteers through a conflict resolution exercise during the Equal Employment Opportunity professional development seminar organized by the EEO Office May 29, 2024, at the Lone Star Conference […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195616,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=195614"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195619,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195614\/revisions\/195619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/195616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=195614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=195614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=195614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}