Facilitation Leadership Lab, Community Event: From Conflict to Clarity & Connection
Most conflicts don’t escalate because people are bad actors. They escalate because we try to solve them before we understand them.
In organizations and public-facing spaces, conflict is often treated as a problem to resolve quickly—or something to avoid altogether. But conflict is better understood as a signal: a pattern of relationships, interpretations, emotions, power dynamics, and unmet needs interacting in real time.
This workshop introduces a structured process for diagramming conflict—a way to slow down, make invisible dynamics visible, and understand what’s actually happening before deciding what to do next.
Rather than offering scripts or quick fixes, we’ll focus on building your capacity to see conflict clearly.
What This Workshop Focuses On
At the center of this session is a repeatable, practical method for mapping conflict dynamics, including:
The transactions that occurred (what happened, in what order)
The interpretations different actors are making
The emotional responses those interpretations generate
The identity and power dynamics shaping behavior
The positions, needs, and interests driving the conflict beneath the surface
You’ll learn how to distinguish between different types of conflict—interpersonal, third-party, internal–external, identity- and values-based, and stress-driven—and why misdiagnosing the type often leads to failed interventions.
Most importantly, you’ll practice not trying to resolve the conflict right away. The goal is understanding first.
What You’ll Learn
Participants will:
Develop a clear diagnostic lens for conflict
Learn how to break down complex situations into understandable dynamics without oversimplifying them.
Understand how different conflict styles show up in groups
Use a conflict styles assessment to see how people (including you) tend to respond—and how those differences shape group behavior.
Practice diagramming real conflicts from your work
Apply the mapping process to a live situation you’re facing, using structured prompts and partner work.
Identify common blockers to productive engagement
Recognize where assumptions, positionality, urgency, or power imbalances distort understanding.
Build facilitative capacity for group belonging
Learn how clearer diagnosis creates the conditions for trust, accountability, and collective problem-solving.
What You’ll Walk Away With
A step-by-step process for mapping conflict before intervening
Greater confidence navigating tense or ambiguous situations
A shared language for discussing conflict without blame or defensiveness
Tools you can use immediately—in meetings, online spaces, or high-stakes collaborations
Who This Is For
This workshop is well suited for:
Facilitators, mediators, and group leaders
Supporting conversations across difference, power, and identity.
Organizational and program leaders
Facing recurring conflict they can’t “fix” with policy or authority alone.
People working in complex, high-pressure environments
Where urgency, ambiguity, and misalignment are constant.
Anyone who wants to respond to conflict with more clarity and less reactivity
You don’t need to come with a “solution.” You just need a real situation and a willingness to examine it more carefully.
This session is about learning how to see conflict clearly—so that whatever you do next is grounded, intentional, and humane.