Conflict Resolution Strategies

This session will focus on improving participant skills in the resolution and prevention of conflict. The goal will be to bring all attendees to a higher understanding and skill level.

Topics covered will include:

  • Understanding conflict – dynamics; responses; barriers to resolution
  • Negotiation and process expertise to manage conflict – principled negotiation; positions v. interests
  • Conflict resolution skills – separating people from the problem; managing emotions; perspective-taking; preparing for and engaging in difficult conversations
  • Implementation – steps to build a culture equipped and oriented to manage conflict at the lowest level possible
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Deirdre McCarthy Gallagher
JAMS Institute

Deirdre McCarthy Gallagher is a trainer, facilitator, and mediator with JAMS, the world’s largest private ADR provider, and the Associate Director of the JAMS Institute.

Before coming to JAMS in 2020, Ms. McCarthy Gallagher was the President of Voices of Value, a dispute resolution firm committed to helping parties navigate and resolve conflict. She has over 24 years of experience as a conflict resolution trainer and practitioner, including facilitating and mediating multi-party employment and organizational dialogues to address conflict, align vision, and navigate challenges to trust and communication. Ms. McCarthy Gallagher has a particular interest in understanding dispute systems, believing that this is critical to managing conflict productively. She has conducted conflict assessments and created training and capacity-building programs for the public and private sectors.

Ms. McCarthy Gallagher received her AB from Harvard University, her MS from the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, and her JD from Georgetown University Law Center. She is an adjunct professor of negotiation and mediation at Georgetown and the co-author of Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Regulatory Process, recently published by Michigan State University Press. She is also the Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution’s Committee for Committee Development and Oversight and a volunteer with the Divided Communities Project.