"Months on I recognise that the ongoing forgiveness since that time of mediation... has allowed healing..."
Blog » Horses for courses
Horses for courses
Horses for courses......
In recent weeks, we've noticed more interest in our Communications training and pages on our website about communicating at work, understanding body language and listening skills. Curious that enquirers are now looking at these elements alongside our mediation offer. Or is it? In our bid to make ourselves understood better, we're operating in a world that's becoming more and more complex with regard to communication.
Our new courses in Anger Management and Assertiveness are part of an increasing offer from Peaceworks designed to look at the way we communicate with each other. And it's not confined to the world of mediation and the folk at Peaceworks.
One of the most prominent features of the current economic and political climate is the emphasis on the way things are said, how much we trust what's being said, and how people can get past the flim-flam of spin to the real issues. This is especially true with the recent stepping down of James Murdoch from the board of B Sky B. It's a sad indictment of our current climate of distrust (not unfounded) that yet more enquiries are being made into the appalling conduct of those at News International who indulged in phone hacking and pursing people beyond the bounds of safety and decency.
The real issue here is about trust and integrity. Perhaps there is more to the upsurge of interest in communication skills than idle curiosity. It really can be a serious problem in business: not getting the communication right. Not just in business too. But for the time being let's stay with the business model. Here at Peaceworks, we deal with the fallout from communication disasters all the time, from family squabbles to the devastation of divorce, from mis-communication at work to full scale Employment Tribunal cases, from neighbour complaints to court-cases. The social cost of bad communication is immense.
One thing that this Government must be commended for is the signing of the Dispute Resolution Commitment last year. It drew attention to the massive cost of communication breakdown in British industry and the terrible loss of productivity attendant on it. There's some hope for setting things right with the support from the top being made public in this way.
But that's not the end of the battle. We need to keep on finding out more about the way we say things, how they're received, the way we listen, the way we interpret information. All complex and convoluted in an age where information is key. Really, it's hardly surprising we get it wrong so often with the emphasis now on e-communication rather than good old plain talking to each other. And then, of course it's a question of body language and reading the signs. There's a whole new world of un-said clues in the human face and we would do well to try and understand them more.....
