Designing Together: The collaboration and conflict management handbook for creative professionals

11. Conflict Patterns: Behaviors for Reaching Resolutions

A pattern is a behavior, a way of dealing with a difficult situation. These patterns suggest

• A way to treat a situation (like converting failure to action)

• A way to look at a situation (consider micro/macro perspectives)

• A way to frame a conversation (blame a “bad cop”)

• A technique to inject into the conversation (draw pictures)

Patterns are intentionally high-level starting points. No book can give you a perfect recipe for dealing with every situation.

Recall that there are four types of patterns:

• Empathize: Build understanding between people.

• Involve: Engage people more directly in the project.

• Redirect: Get people to focus on the right things.

• Reframe: Use a different ...