Advisor Conflict Mediation Workshop

Managing Conflict as an Advisor: Facilitating Difficult Conversations and Cooperative Problem Solving in Student Groups

Student Group Advisors Workshop, February 28, 2024

We all experience conflict occasionally. Disputes can arise within or between even well-advised student groups. It is a natural result of the fact that we are different from each other. We have different roles, different goals, different styles, etc. We’ll explore how student group advisors can facilitate communication and problem solving in these situations to foster constructive outcomes.

At the conclusion of this workshop you will:

1. Recognize common responses to conflict, in yourself and in others;
2. Understand some principles of cooperative problem solving and effective strategies for managing difficult conversations constructively; and
3. Possess a few practical skills that you can implement to increase constructive outcomes to conflict in student groups you advise.

Paul Ladehoff is director of the LL.M. in Dispute Resolution program for the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution at the University of Missouri School of Law and director of the MU Campus Mediation Service. Paul teaches negotiation and mediation at the Law School and has taught Group Dynamics and Conflict Resolution for MU’s Truman School of Public Affairs. Paul graduated with honors from the University of Nebraska College of Law, directed several community-based mediation centers in Nebraska, and served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division.