About ________________________________________________________Our Values
Our Work At Sound Options Group Is Built Upon And Aligned With The Following Beliefs And Values.
“Conflict flows from life. Rather than seeing conflict as a threat, we can understand it as providing opportunities to grow and to increase our understanding of ourselves, of others, of our social structures. Conflicts in relationships at all levels are the way life helps us to stop, assess, and take notice. One way to truly know our humanness is to recognize the gift of conflict in our lives.”
John Paul Lederach
Conflict Is An Essential Life Experience.
Interpersonal Conflict
Interpersonal conflict is experienced when two or more people interact, and in the context of the interaction, perceive some level of incompatible difference or threat. Conflict is initially experienced when our individual and collective interpretations of an interaction indicate some level of dissonance between ourselves and the other person(s). It could be said that conflict starts between our ears and is a result of our interpretation of a single interaction or pattern of interactions.
Conflict has the potential to be productive or destructive. Our individual and collective experience with conflict is based on the individual and collective choices we make in the engagement of this shared experience.
Effective And Intentional Conflict Engagement Practices Have The Potential To:
- Build trust
- Build Social Capital
- Open the potential for innovation and creativity
- Increase our capacity to address complex challenges
Ineffective Conflict Engagement Practices Have The Potential To:
- Compromise trust,
- Erode Social Capital,
- Challenge psychological safety,
- Result in individual and collective disengagement from the pursuit of a shared objective, and
- Be manifested in the avoidance of, and unwillingness to, engage critical complex challenges.
Every conflict we face in life is rich with positive and negative potential. It can be a source of inspiration, enlightenment, learning, transformation, and growth – or rage, fear shame entrapment, and resistance. The choice is not up to our opponents, but to us, and our willingness to face and work through them.
Kenneth Cloke
Because the manifestations of conflict are complex and the contexts diverse, it is essential to approach capacity building systemically.
As we explore our individual and collective relationship to conflict, we will also explore our relationship to trust, vulnerability, and forgiveness or letting go of anger and resentment.
The following quote from Roland Barth in an article entitled, Relationships in the Schoolhouse (2006), reinforces the importance of healthy conflict engagement within educational institutions:
Conflict is experienced on a continuum. Based on the work of Dr. Bernard Mayer (2009) we acknowledge that while many conflicts are resolvable, some conflict is of an “Enduring” nature and therefore unresolvable. In this context individuals and systems must build capacity for “staying with conflict” and engaging it over time with a long-term perspective.
