NGO Soul + Strategy 077. Let’s Work Through This: Conflict Mediation in Social Sector Organizations With Nathalie Thompson
Summary
Conflict management and mediation are skills that come up frequently as a weak area in many of our social sector organizations.
And these days, more than ever conflict is on the rise within our organizations.
So how can we work through our conflicts more skillfully and effectively?
Nathalie has answers for us. She's a trainer conflict mediator (as well as a Corentus, Inc. team coach) who helps teams and organizations develop better conflict management capabilities.
And she's a valued colleague in a broader team I am a part of. Which means I get to learn from her!
In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Nathalie Thompson, Owner of 5 Fold Consulting, on conflict mediation.
Erica's Bio:
- Owner of ‘5 Fold Consulting’, a consulting and coaching firm focused on conflict management skill building and mediation
- Core Practitioner and Faculty at the Corentus team coaching company
- In short: mediator, facilitator, and coach
We discuss:
- It is often useful to work on task-related conflicts as a precursor to working on relationship-based conflicts.
- There are cross-national cultural differences in how humans deal with conflict. As a mediator, it is important to first build relationship, to inquire what makes for a good conversation for the person, and how to structure the conflict mediation process
- There are also gendered dimensions to conflict expression and management. Society tends to ascribe the term ‘aggressive’ to women (negative framing), for instance, when they engage in conflict, while men tend to be labeled as ‘assertive’ in the same context (positive or neutral framing)
- One way of minimizing interpersonal conflicts within organizations is to clarify expectations, styles, and preferences. Similarly, to clarify goals and parameters, and how to do the work.
- Also, to agree to tackle breakdowns in relationships by agreeing upfront how difficulties will be raised, and to work through the Corentus ‘6 question framework’ for dealing with breakdowns.
- Nathalie is among others an ombuds. This is an originally Swedish term that literally means: ‘representative of the people’, and is an independent, neutral person to whom staff in an organization can go for confidential advice, feedback on policy, procedure, or when they seek accommodation. Ombuds are independent from HR and can offer mediation, and raise sensitive issues such as harassment and performance issues with those in authority.
- The apparent rise in intra-organizational strife in civil society organisations is an extension of the external polarization in society: a tendency to think in terms of ‘one true way’ instead of accepting there are many different ways
Quotes:
“In the nonprofit sphere, people tend to be expected to be ‘so nice’; this makes it harder to exert accountability, and to say what needs to be said”
Resources:
YouTube video of this podcast
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