Conflict Confessions Activity

The Conflict Confessions activity helps people resolve conflicts through analysis, reflection, and understanding. Many conflict resolution activities are theoretical, but this one is not.

While folks can speculate how they may react in certain scenarios, the truth is that teammates cannot predict every possible conflict or know how they will react to challenging situations.

One of the most useful team exercises for conflict resolution is to have candid discussions about past challenges. Simply gather in a group, then ask volunteers to share stories.

While sharing the story, the presenter should touch on the following points:

• What was the cause?
• What escalated the situation?
• How was the issue resolved?
• What I did well?
• What I learned or what I could have done differently?

If the conflict happened years in the past, then the presenter can also discuss how the problem might be solved today. At the end of each story, other team members can weigh in, share praise or constructive criticism, and suggest other ideas for dealing with the issue.

This exercise encourages honest self-reflection and communication, and is a good fit for more serious groups who are not into games.

The topics of this publication: reflection, self, integration, interactions, critical thinking