Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Basics

The key to conflict management is nonviolent communication. It is defined as a way of speaking and listening that facilitates the flow of communication needed to exchange information and resolve differences peacefully.

There are 4 steps to nonviolent communication (NVC):

1. Observation- What are we observing that is either enriching or not enriching our lives?
2. Feeling- What feelings are associated with those observations?
3. Need- What needs of ours are connected to the feelings?
4. Request- What concrete actions are we asking for in order to enrich our lives?

There are 2 parts to NVC:

1. Expressing honestly through the 4 components
2. Receiving empathically through the 4 components

If we employ the basics of nonviolent communication in our everyday lives, we will avoid/prevent a lot of potential conflicts. However when conflicts do arise (and they are inevitable) it is best to communicate via the 4 components in order to separate any judgments from the actually needs that are not being met.

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