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New Year’s “Conflict” Resolution !

Happy New Year !  Here we are in 2020 filed with excellent vision and all manner of strategic efforts focused on the future (puns intended)! So, what are your plans?

At the university, the end of the calendar year brings a natural break  as one semester ends and another begins in the new year. This can be a time for rest and recharging and reflection. When I meet with people in the ombuds office and we consider options, we typically think in terms of “small” steps that one can take with the hope/goal/plan that small steps can lead to larger changes. Often a small step allows for other steps to follow – even if you are the only one taking the steps.

This idea of taking steps connects, in an opposite manner, with the most popular form of conflict resolution – avoid it! Yes, most people avoid conflicts whether consciously or not, yet as I previously posted, “avoiding” something is actually doing something about it – often in a negative way. This seems to be particularly true in the workplace. If you avoid something long enough – it does not go away. Instead, you find it turned into something much larger that is now doing something to you whether you want it to or not.  Faced with this consideration – that the conflict is now impacting you – its time to take a small step.

Use your semester break experience to energize your return to work with a new plan. With the idea that you’ll do something about that workplace issue you’ve been avoiding.

That’s your New Year’s Conflict Resolution!  

In 2020 – Go Ombuds!