Ombuds Practices

Mar 28, 2022

A Reminder to Be Nice – hard on problems and soft on people

Dear NC State Faculty and Staff: I’m Roy Baroff, the NC State Faculty and Staff Ombuds. This is my 8th year of service in this role and it’s been an honor and privilege to be your ombuds. Over the last two years, I’ve heard from faculty and staff across the university with a range of concerns. I’ve done my best to provide support and help…

Mar 4, 2022

Let’s Go Fishing – BrainFishing

That’s the premise from experienced mediators and conflict coaches Gary Furlong and Jim Harrison in their wonderful book – BrainFishing – A Practice Guide to Questioning Skills (2018). I recently attended a presentation by Furlong and came back hooked!! Here’s a strategy for how to engage in thoughtful conversation – Go BrainFishing!! According to Furlong…

Jan 4, 2022

Conflict Resolutions 2022

It’s that time of year – time for New Year’s resolutions! You know – when we put into practice the well thought and well planned changes for our lives!!! Right??!! We’ve used the end of the year holidays to reflect, to recharge, and make plans for the new year – well maybe – and maybe not…

Dec 6, 2021

The Ombuds – We Listen

I was speaking with a visitor late last week. We ombuds identify people who we meet with as visitors because when they meet with us its off the record. They are not our clients and we don’t represent them; instead they are visiting. So, I was speaking with the visitor who was sharing a concern…

Nov 1, 2021

Some Dangerous Questions

When people are in conflict it is often difficult for them to gain perspective on the situation. People only consider the situation from their own perspective, they find fault and cast blame on the other, and they don’t listen. So, what to do? Consider “Some “Dangerous Questions.” At a recent Conflict Coaching Summit session organized…

Aug 9, 2021

The Dog Days of Summer

After a string of pleasant summer temperatures in the mid 80’s I realized that this is not our usual August weather here in central North Carolina. We usually have mid to high 90’s, high humidity, and thunderstorms with regularity – our dog days of summer. This got me thinking about that expression, so I looked…

Jun 14, 2021

Making Decisions

On top of everything that everyone has been through over the last year plus and as we enter this next covid phase of return to physical work spaces (for some) people are making decisions. And it’s a very challenging time to make decisions. Let me explain. We’ve been living in and through a pandemic. We’ve…

Sep 14, 2020

Perspective Together

May 19, 2020