Doris Wesley Host Successful Conflict Transformative Workshop for North Carolina State University (NCSU) Staff, Students, and Faculty

On Friday, April 12, 2024, at 11am EST, Doris Wesley, a communication and conflict transformation scholar at North Carolina State University with the Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media (CRDM) program, led and facilitated a conflict transformative workshop titled: "Harvesting the Fruits of Your Own and Other's Conflict," in collaboration with the NCSU Libraries Peer Scholars Program. The workshop was opened to and attended by some NCSU staff, students, and faculty.

A group of participants in conflict transformative workshop at North Carolina State University D.H. Hill Library, poses for a group photo, showcasing knowledge acquisition and application satisfaction.

Doris Wesley teaches and researches communication's role in transforming conflicts and extreme violence in traditional and online intercultural spaces. She is passionate about equipping individuals, organizations, institutions, and communities with the necessary skills to transform conflict at any level using proprietary methodologies and proven multimodal communication strategies. She serves on the advisory board of the NCSU Feed the Pack initiative, is the former President of CRDMSA, and is a recipient of the diversity grant by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS), which funded the designing of the Compassionate Communication course at NC State.

The workshop was designed to make participants develop a greater appreciation for the emotions that their conflicts bring. Attendees were able to identify and work on transforming at least one unresolved, ongoing, past, or imaginary conflict situation, as well as gain a deeper understanding of an already resolved conflict. The workshop featured various activities such as small group and peer discussions, “try-it-now” practices, scenario challenges, and Q&A sessions to cultivate a collaborative culture of honing conflict transformation skills while giving and receiving empathy. One of the best parts of the workshop was a session on Emotion Guesses and The SITOP Exercise. Participants learned how to make observations without judgments, label their feelings without assumptions, express their needs and values without attachment to the strategy or preference, as well as learn to communicate requests without demands.

The workshop also included a section where attendees worked on their personal conflict situation, using the nonviolent communication (NVC) framework, and wrote their goals and vision for transforming any future conflict that arises. In the end, attendees understood the 5-concrete steps to handling conflict and were gifted some take-home exercises to further enhance their ability to give themselves self-empathy, have empathy for another person, and ask for what they want positively.

Images of some of the participants actively working on transforming their personal ongoing or unresolved conflicts!

Participants shared their positive experiences from the workshop:

"I have been to many workshops, but this one was the best. We took our conflicts, applied them to what we were learning, and the framework is well grounded."

"It was a superb presentation today! I'm glad I came. I used the strategy this evening to resolve a conflict and it worked perfectly! I felt my need was met and there was no passing of judgment or aggression."

"The main idea I took home was how to first tackle conflict management. Instead of fighting or confronting you should figure out how you feel and what type of “need” you are missing. Whenever I get into conflict now I will take a step back and separate the conflict/person with my feelings."

Overall, the workshop was a resounding success, thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of its participants, organizers, and the facilitator. Doris will be hosting future workshops in collaboration with academic and industry leaders to continue empowering individuals, institutions, organizations, and communities to help transform their conflicts in healthy ways! For more information on how to book Doris Wesley for your future communication and conflict transformative training, coaching, and consulting sessions, kindly contact her here!