Today’s conflicts increasingly seem to encompass more people, more polarization, deeper entrenchment, and more complexity. Rapid change and increased demand for meaningful involvement in decisions that affect our lives are undeniable facts in today’s environment. Businesses, schools, hospitals, police and emergency services, volunteer organizations, governments, and religious organizations all face these realities, and the challenges of dealing with the ensuing turbulence and conflict.

To be effective and sustainable, responses to handling conflicts involving or impacting large numbers of people must be approached differently than those involving only a few. How to deal with these uncertain and complex situations can seem scary and overwhelming. Yet doing nothing is often not an option. Something must be done, but being equipped only with the knowledge and skills used in small group conflicts is insufficient.

This workshop, Conflict Transformation in Large Spaces, is designed to address these realities.

The ideal participant will have some of the following attributes:

•  Already understands and has experience in core concepts of conflict resolution at individual levels through training, education, and/or life experience.
• Has training and/or experience as a third-party in facilitating conflicts between individuals (and thus possesses awareness of and some skill in establishing and maintaining control in difficult conversations, agenda formation and management, issue identification, listening skills, problem-solving skills, resolution-focused interviewing skills, techniques for facilitating agreement, etc.).
• Has experience in group leadership in a facilitation role, as a team leader, teacher or trainer, or other circumstances that require overseeing group interaction.
• Has personal life experience, training, and/or values that support awareness of the emotional and spiritual challenges that come with efforts to solve problems and conflicts with other people.
• Is based in or connected to an institution or group that is party to, or the site of, conflicts that involve many people, and has access to others mandated to respond to those conflicts.
• Seeks to lead, facilitate, or resource others in creating responses to conflicts involving many people.

The workshop will focus on:

• The following key concepts of what we do in facilitating large space transformation including:
  
  • values-based and advocacy-oriented – as process advocates for and facilitators of decision-making processes that are inclusive, transparent, principled, truth-seeking, and accountable.
  • systemically oriented (seeks the links between personal and systemic and the need to work with both).
  • Appreciative of traditions – aware of the presence and value of deeply rooted traditions and practices.
  • Open to change.
  • Trauma informed – aware of the role hurt, fear, and trauma in creating conflict and injustice and how that recognition can lead to sustainable and positive change.
• Developing and practicing key skills for problem-solving, facilitating and building consensus in difficult settings
• Process design
• Dialogue tools (spectrum, structured interviews, Samoan Circles, etc.)
• Case studies and roleplays involving large groups in varying contexts (e.g. organizations and communities)
• Reconciliation, reparations, letting go, and moving on
• Engagement – why, what, how

Generous opportunities for self-reflection is given and participants are encouraged to draw on their own experiences, and the experiences of the other participants, in the positive and supportive learning environment created by our trainers and coaches.

Learning will take place through a combination of interactive teaching methods including short lectures, panels, case studies, videos, demonstrations, small group discussions, interactive exercises, simulations, practice drills, and role plays.

Participants should be prepared for some work during the evenings and between sessions to prepare for the following day. Some of the material covered may be sensitive, including cases of abuse, gender, and race conflicts.

About the Trainers:

Richard Moore is a graduate of Carleton University and Queen’s University Law School and has many years’ experience in conflict resolution and transformation as a mediator, facilitator, and trainer. He holds C. Med, C. Med-Arb, and C. Arb. designations. He has developed many customized training programs, and his foundational and advanced mediation, and med-arb workshops have all been approved towards professional ADR designations. His experience includes helping develop and introduce mediation programs into the Supreme Courts of Guyana and the Philippines, co-founding and developing a longstanding Canadian community mediation program, and providing expert advice regarding many Canadian conflict management programs. A significant focus of Richard’s current work is in dealing with large group dysfunction, polarization, and conflict, particularly in the workplace space, where he collaborates to develop trusted processes that allow people to safely speak about and transform conflict and collaborate together to address complex issues.

Ron Kraybill has worked globally with a passion for bringing conflict resolution skills to leaders. He holds a Masters from Harvard Divinity School and a PhD in Religious Studies from University of Cape Town. He was founding director of the Mennonite Conciliation Service 1979-1988 and a leader in the early development of conflict resolution throughout North America. As Director of Training at the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town, 1989-1995, he trained many South African leaders from all communities in negotiation and conflict resolution. With John Paul Lederach and others he established the Conflict Transformation Program at Eastern Mennonite University, 1996-2007. In appointments since then by Quakers (Jerusalem) and the United Nations (Senior Peacebuilding Advisor in Lesotho, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands) he has led multiple in-residence peacebuilding initiatives. Currently he is creating an online conflict resolution learning platform at stylematters.net

This workshop will be given by special arrangement for groups of eight or more participants.

Registration fees are $3,200 + HST per participant (organizations sending 3 or more participants will receive a 10% discount off each participant’s registration fees)