Workshop at the 2020 PA Council of Mediators Conference

Note: When this conference was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, I was invited to convert my content to webinar format and offer it as the Pennsylvania Council of Mediator’s inaugural webinar. The program was co-hosted by PCM and the Chester County Bar Association. The recording is available through the Bar Association.

I’m pleased to have been selected to deliver workshop again at the Pennsylvania Council of Mediators Annual Conference, May 1-2 in Harrisburg. The workshops is entitled ” What is Tone Policing and Why Every Conflict Resolution Professional Needs to Understand It.”

Tone policing is a popular term used to describe the silencing of a party in a conflict because they are expressing strong emotions. Dig a little further and you find complex dynamics at play: class, race, gender, ableism and other power dynamics as well as messages about what feelings are acceptable and how, or even if, we can show them. This workshop will dive into the details and nuances of: tone policing, how our personal demographics might sway our perceptions of tone policing and whether we might be tone policing, how to differentiate between tone policing and healthy boundaries, and how we as conflict resolution professionals can help address these sensitive and contentious concerns.