1 Practice 'self-work' and mindfulness.

Conflict transformation starts within ourselves, as we cultivate self-awareness and ongoing growth. Also helpful are: openness to learning from others, the willingness to engage conflict directly when needed, and a mindfulness practice.

Recommended practices:

• • Complete a conflict self-assessment: What are your conflict style(s), or tendencies when faced with conflict? What strengths do you bring, and how would you like to grow? What do you need in order to respond to conflict well? How can you meet those needs? 
  • Be clear about your own limits and boundaries. Practice articulating these. 
  • Know which issues may trigger you. Think beforehand about how to respond if you're triggered (e.g. mindful breathing, taking a break from the conversation, etc.).
  • Discern what helps you be more grounded—whether breathwork, meditation, yoga, physical exercise, sufficient sleep, etc.—and build that into your daily schedule.
  • Learn at least one very brief mindfulness exercise, such as belly breathing or sensory observations, that you can use to nurture calm during tense moments. 

2 Build relationships, trust, community.

When students in a class know and trust each other, they're more likely to be able to practice the empathy and vulnerability needed to work through conflicts productively. Taking time to build community also creates opportunities to become more aware of varied individual needs within the group and to shape group culture and shared practices to account for those needs. Unless we strive to make the group culture visible and intentionally inclusive, there will likely be unspoken assumptions that are exclusionary to some. Finally, while purposeful community-building is important, we should do this in ways that respect both authenticity and boundaries, inviting students to share as feels appropriate to them, but without pushing anyone to disclose more than they choose.

Recommended practices:

• • Use opening moments to set the desired tone. How we begin lays the path for how we are likely to continue. Carefully plan initial activities during the first days of class, as well as opening moments at the start of each class session.  
  • Take time for introductions. Group introductory activities can help students learn each other's names, build class cohesion, and may function as warm-up to deeper discussion. Select open-ended questions and activities so students have space to choose how much they wish to share (or not) about themselves. 
  • Establish community agreements to guide how the class will engage in discussions or shared work. Include students in developing the agreements so that the agreements are more reflective of group values and needs, and there's greater shared ownership. 
  • Provide clear guidelines for collaborative work, whether that's a group project or small group work in class. Teams collaborate better if they first talk through group dynamics and process, expectations, roles and responsibilities.
  • Give students opportunities to develop conflict transformation skills before a conflict emerges in the group. 
    • Talk explicitly about approaches to conflict, including conflict transformation. Invite the class to re-frame conflict as opportunity.
    • If this is relevant to the course topic and learning objectives, have students complete their own conflict self-assessments. Especially when varied conflict styles are present, note how each style includes both pros and cons. 

3 Cultivate critical curiosity.

It's helpful to frame diversity as both a strength to be valued and a productive challenge that sometimes asks us to stretch in discomforting ways. We'll be better prepared to navigate such challenges if we cultivate habits of critical curiosity: learning to pause and listen to emotions, question our assumptions, analyze power, consider implications. This readies us to better engage the learning opportunities that human difference and conflicts may offer.

Recommended practices: 

• • When selecting course content: include diverse voices, identities, life experiences. When appropriate, make space for students to contribute to course content, especially by drawing on their own backgrounds and previous experience. 
  • Incorporate perspectives that constructively challenge "status quo" thinking or traditional norms. Invite reflection and discussion about conflicting ideas.
  • When eliciting ideas or feedback: hold space for multiple viewpoints. Brainstorm several ideas before starting to assess any. Request affirmations and constructive critiques. Foster a "low stakes" discussion environment, in which it's okay to try out ideas and to change one's mind. 
  • Model and encourage respectful disagreement. Check in with others to see if you're understanding their point before you start to argue a counterpoint. Focus critiques on ideas expressed or behaviors observed, and avoid turning the critique into a judgment on character or personhood.
  • Use questions to unearth assumptions and assess implications. Teach and model the value of pondering such questions as:
    • Where did this idea originate? Does it presume a specific worldview and/or reflect a specific social context? 
    • What are the implications or impacts of this idea? Does it land differently on people with varied identities or social contexts? What's at stake, and for whom? 
    • How does this idea make me feel? Where does that emotion come from, and what is it telling me? What do I then want to do with the emotion(s) I'm feeling?

These recommendations were written by Dr. Sarah Macdonald. If you have questions, please contact her at macdonal@uwm.edu.