By Tiffany Stamness/reporter
NE students learned strategies for dealing with conflict March 24 during a Student Leadership Academy session.
“I’m sure all of us in the room have experienced some sort of conflict, whether it was a Facebook quote or maybe someone that cut you off in traffic,” said Mishuna MacDonald, student development associate. “But everyone in the room experiences some type of conflict.”
Often, people find themselves in a management-type position faced with opposition from those around them, MacDonald said. Students discussed their thoughts on how to handle difficult situations. They talked about what situations they have found themselves in and how they handled them.
“It’s better to find out now how to handle conflict than to find out in trial by fire,” one student said.
Their reading material offered suggestions for handling conflict appropriately and head-on.
“You may have to have a conversation that may be difficult,” MacDonald said.
It can be beneficial to handle conflict with kindness, their text suggested.
Students also discussed the blame frame. People often find it easier to blame someone else for their actions.
“Changing how you handle conflict can be like changing your golf swing,” MacDonald said.
Taking a moment to get both sides of the conflict will help a person resolve conflict more effectively, she said.
Student Shannon White said she took this class for personal reasons and for professional development.
“I took this class … to help myself become more of a leader than a follower and to help me when I’m at a job,” she said.
