Managing Conflict

It seemed as though the 2:30 hour was a popular lunch break for all of the interesting sessions. I wandered into the Managing Conflict session presented by Carry Berry-Smith from U of Wyoming. Personally, I have never really liked dealing with conflict, but I would say I know how to deal with a difficult situation when presented with one. Having no other options for a session, I thought perhaps I could learn something or maybe even just be reminded of some valuable lessons. Berry-Smith suggested that when faced with conflict in the newsroom, students should do the following:

1) Understand yourself and how you react to conflict in general.
2) Identify the specific conflict at hand and realize that emotions bring out the fight or flight mentality in most people.
3) Control your emotional response with your brain -- this means, don't fly off the handle. Do something "right brained" like counting to 10 or writing the alphabet.
4) Check out your "beliefs" and "fears" and ask questions like "is this worth fighting over?"
5) Identify the elements of the conflict - what is causing this, what are the logistics?

Overall, I was not highly impressed with the session, but it was good to hear those things my mother has been telling me all along, once more.

-- Lauren Sciba