This interactive 90-minute workshop has two goals: (1) To invite participants to consider how their communication might help construct an environment that invites collaboration and proactively manages conflict through open communication and relationship-building; and (2) To practice distinguishing interests from positions so that participants learn to manage conflicts through a collaborative focus on underlying interests rather than positional or adversarial negotiation. The workshop is grounded in the LEARN model developed by Jameson (2014) which includes Listening, Engaging, Acknowledging, (building) Rapport, and Nurturing (relationships).

Jessica Katz Jameson is Professor of Communication at North Carolina State University. Her research and teaching are focused on organizational communication and conflict management, with special attention to mediation, the roles of identity and emotion in conflict, and inter-organizational and interdisciplinary collaboration. Jessica is affiliated faculty with NC State’s Laboratory for Analytic Sciences, Institute for Nonprofit Research, Education, and Engagement and she is a Community Engaged Faculty Fellow. Her work appears in outlets such as Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Journal of Health Communication, Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, Negotiation Journal, and Western Journal of Communication.