What can YOU do to make this better?

Sometimes ideas for blog posts come from the most unlikely places … not from experts in the field, but from every day life.

I suppose the ideal situation for people in conflict is to make an appointment with a mediator, gather around the table, look for common ground and hopefully come to a resolution.

But hey … that happens in very few cases, really. Most of the time, conflict happens and we have to figure a way out of it, or else we are trapped in it.

So what’s a simple but effective way to work through a conflict at home, on the playground, at work, with a friend, a spouse or with anyone?

This idea was shared by a colleague, from a real world example that happened to him.

This approach requires a trusted person, who is perceived by the conflicting parties to be impartial. After giving each person a few minutes to talk about the conflict from their perspective, the person in the ‘middle’ turns to each person and asks him or her “What can you do to make this situation better?”

And you know what? Most of us know the answer to that question.

Why? Because it’s the very thing we are not doing. Because we are standing our ground.

But if we look inside ourselves, we know what would make a difference.

And maybe, if we took a step in that direction … and the other person did too … we could bridge that gap, and address the conflict with a solution that we could work on together.