Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution, putting the pieces together. Today, we're going to talk about conflict prevention through our relationships. Conflict prevention means we are attempting to meet unmet needs of parties ourselves or other individuals at the earliest stage possible of conflict, or even before conflict begins. And conflict prevention is really the foundation of our positive relationships, and it's a foundation of conflict prevention, is building these positive relationships.
And conflict prevention requires us to use conflict resolution skills in our everyday life, and it really improves communication and strengthens relationships. As you have gone through this, you may feel that you might not necessarily use these skills that you've learned throughout this whole pathway in terms of maybe going through a formal conflict resolution process, but you will find that you can use a lot of these skills in your everyday life. And again, it can improve your communication skills and strengthen your relationships.
So how might we utilize our conflict resolution skills? Well, you may remember that asking clarifying questions, so asking open-ended questions and getting down to the bottom of the matter before we react, engage in active listening, give those nonverbal communication cues and eye contact when appropriate. Utilize I messages, so we're talking about ourselves and how it made us feel rather than blaming the other party.
And we're going to utilize our assertive communication skills in separating positions and interests, so really trying to uncover those reasons why people are saying what they want. And separating people from the problems, realizing that it's not the individual themselves and their character that we want to resolve or assess in conflict, but rather the problem at hand. We also want to brainstorm options for possible solutions and resolutions to our problem in conflict, or even before a conflict arises.
We want to really keep in mind having those quick fire and broad ideas so we can come up with the best solution possible. And when we utilize some or all of these skills in our relationships, it's less likely that they are going to neglect or act in ways that are detrimental to our needs. But if we communicate in this way or use these skills, people are going to be more willing and open to what we have to say and not become so defensive and really get to the heart of it before conflict escalates to a situation where parties may not be talking to each other and escalate into a point where we may have to go through a formal process.
So as I said earlier, you will find that you can use these skills in your day-to-day use or everyday life. When we use these skills, it reduces our likelihood of conflict. So for example, we could use these skills at work, home, or with friends.
So for example, let's say I'm at home, and I see that I've been working all day, and my significant other has been home all day and has left the kitchen and the house a complete mess, and rather than blaming my significant other and starting to get angry, I will feel angry, but I may utilize some I messages. So for example, I feel really upset when I come home and I see that the house is a mess, and I feel like I have been working all day, and I'm not sure what you have been doing all day, but I feel like I am really stressed out by this mess, and I was hoping that you would have chipped in today. So rather than reacting in an explosive way, I'm utilizing some I messages and possibly asking some clarifying questions, because maybe there's a reason why the work didn't and get done, and and my significant other should have the opportunity to explain what had happened during the day.
The thing that we need to keep in mind, however, is that although these skills are really useful and we should attempt to use them as much as possible in our everyday life, we need to know that it's impossible to fully prevent conflict. Conflict is normal. We're going to come across it in all areas of our life, but utilizing these skills will really help build upon our relationship, and the more and more we practice them, the more and more others will accept them as a way of communicating. And it can really facilitate resolution at the earlier stages, rather than to the stage or point where it escalates further where there's tension, and we may have to go through a more formal process rather than working it out ourselves.
Let's take a look at our key points, before we go, on conflict prevention. Conflict prevention is better than resolution, and this is because we are attempting to meet our unmet needs at the very earliest stage of conflict, or even before the conflict begins, rather than waiting to have to go through a conflict resolution process where the conflict has escalated. Conflict prevention also requires us to utilize our conflict resolution skills that will build our relationships.
So we can interact with each other to resolve and work out our issues before the conflict arises. So we're going to use I messages, asking clarifying questions, separating people from problems, brainstorming, and using active listening. These are all ways that we can use our skills to build relationships.
And finally, we have to know that preventing all conflicts is impossible. Conflict is a part of life. It's going to happen. But if we practice and use the conflict resolution skills and techniques, our relationship will be stronger to facilitate the theorization of the conflict at the earlier stages before it gets to that escalated point.
Feel free to pause and take a look at your key term. Thanks for taking the time out to view this. I hope that you'll learned something. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.