“I am a woman in process. I’m just trying like everybody else. I try to take every conflict, every experience, and learn from it. Life is never dull.”  Oprah Winfrey

Developing my competency to better negotiate and manage conflict is an area where I am continuing to grow daily.  I used to avoid working with others because of the conflicts that would arise, now I realize it is an important skill to be able to have because I will also have to work with others to make sure a task is done correctly.  Conflicts and comprising my ideas, I am realizing is not always a bad thing, but rather a way to learn skills that a required when working with others such as adaptability and ability to negotiate ideas and plans to come up with one grand idea.  I have realized that I like working in group because it allows me to learn about my coworkers in other ways and get to meet people I would not often work with on a daily basis.  Although I stated I like and work best in a group, sometimes it is difficult to cater to all the group member needs as well as make sure their opinions are accounted for and recognized it a decision. Negotiating and managing conflict has taught me to be accountable and responsible for my actions and to ask for explanation and clarification if needed.  During my time at Mason I have been able to work with good groups and bad groups, but with each project or assignment I learn something new about myself, as well as enhance my ability to adapt to others style of working within a group.

I often used to dread working on projects and other assignments with other people, but this year I have seen myself grow in how I handle conflict, and approach others when I feel that something could work better.  Something that challenges me when working on a project with others is to make sure that I am able to speak up when I do not agree, and allowing my opinions to be heard.  I like to be able process observe when making decisions, and I often need time to reflect on all possible outcomes. To an outsider it make seem, that I am unresponsive or nervous to speak, but I value being able to listen to everyone’s ideas and comments on a project before sharing my opinion.

I think that all conflict is not bad conflict, and I find that having disagreements can often increase the productivity of a project because ideas are clashing before blending together perfectly.  I have also learned that conflict cannot be avoided, but it is often how it is handled.  The best way I have learned to handle conflict and compromise ideas is to be respectful and mindful of other people’s ideas and thoughts.  When making group decisions I often like to think of what is going to benefit the most people, but being mindful of who the decision will not benefit and how I can accommodate the minority as well. I am a team player and want to be able to do what is best for the group as a whole.   I have learned that if there is no conflicts within a group, it is not going through a “healthy” group process where everyone is actively participating and sharing ideas.  Whenever there is a challenge in a group I think of it as an experience I can learn from and use to be successful in another project.