Biography:
Richard Barbieri entered the field of ADR after a career in education, where he was a teacher, administrator, and school head at every level from pre-school through graduate school. In those positions he studied conflict resolution informally and gained a great deal of on-the-ground experience. Beginning in 2010, he took classes at the Harvard Project on Mediation, earned a certificate and did further study in mediation and organizational conflict at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, as well as numerous trainings with the Public Conversations Project and others. He has also had a long affiliation with Facing History and Ourselves, as board member and most recently Senior Fellow
Richard has mediated in courts throughout eastern Massachusetts, in family and divorce proceedings, and in group settings at schools and universities. He has published on the practice of mediation, mediating around the Ebola crisis, and mediating between police and the public. His writing has appeared on mediate.com, in ACResolutions, and with the National Association of Independent Schools, and he has been a speaker and delegate with groups studying conflict in Israel, Eastern Europe, Germany, and the Netherlands.
He is currently serving as President of the New England Association for Conflict Resolution, and Executive Committee member of the Martha’s Vineyard Mediation Program.
He has an earned doctorate from Harvard University, and has published over 300 articles, book reviews, and curriculum materials.
Web Site:
www.singularresolutions.com
Segment One – Richard Barbieri’s Journey
When Richard Barbieri was a school administrator he encountered his share of conflict. Parent to school, teacher to teacher, teacher to administrator and student to student. The whole gamut. Richard always had an interest in the field of conflict mediation but Richard didn’t feel he had a full handle on the process.
So when Richard retired, he felt this area of conflict is where he wanted to specialize in and learn more. after retiring Richard took a couple courses one of the principal conflicts that. Mr. Barbieri specializes in school conflict and Doug and he discuss the differences between for conflict resolution and that of other conflicts. This is a very interesting segment. Very eye opening.
Segment Two – Stop and Listen
Richard tells us in this segment about the philosophical approach to dealing with the kind of conflicts he is coming to to resolve. Richard believes being proactive it’s very important. Teachers and administrators need to be given the skills and education in conflict resolution. Don’t expect your educators and administrators to know how to resolve conflict with students, parents, peers, and administrators. Richard believes that middle management is usually the one that needs training because they deal with conflict on the regular basis. It’s important for upper management and administrators to see how middle management handles conflict. what is your strategy how did they come that solution why did they come to that solution and see where it might be needed to have further training. It has been proven that teachers and administrators work well with angry children and adolescents but not with angry and defensive adults. this is common because of lack of skills. developing listening skills is a very important part of Richard teaches administrators and teachers listening skills are the foundational element is the one ring to rule them all my dad teaches and practices if he tells people to more than words and pay attention only to the emotions this shows up when you pay attention to the emotions and not the words that you can actually emotional side of the brain quickly and a lot of people come back online and process information. Listening is a critical skill.
Segment Three – Open Meetings vs. Mediation
Richard and Doug discuss facilitating a meeting between parents and the governing body of the school can be a difficult task. Public schools have open meeting laws where you’re unable to have private meetings even though normal mediation may be a better strategy. There’s really no room for conversation with open meetings. Richard has been able to work around that on a few instances. Richard has one very interesting experience like that. He was working with school down in Miami and the event had been set up by the chair of the board and Richard. Both were attending the event and it was over changes in the school and strategic plans that have been developed. There was a lot of suspicion and questions about the motives. Richard and the chairman were at the front of the room. The board and everybody else was mixed together in the audience. Richard asked every member of the board who was the room that to stand up. All over the room somebody stood up. People notice this and they realize that they have been speaking with somebody that was with a board and it made it difficult for them have the same feelings towards them as before.
Doug shares with us that in the state of California open meeting known as the Brown Act which is great for transparency however do not allow conversation and dialogue which is very important for conflict resolution and mediation. This can sometimes exacerbate conflict. In this segment, Richard and Doug discuss it would be great if in open meetings there board of directors, people and facilitators divided into groups and come back to the table with what the spoke about.
Segment Four – Change and resistance
In this segment Doug and Richard discuss how do you change people who don’t want to change. This can be a difficult subject to broach and requires patience and empathy. They also discuss how they see more international students taking what they learn to their own countries versus our own American students taking conflict resolution classes. It just proves that the conflict in other countries are more predominant.
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