I watched something today that resonated with me. A woman by the name of Katy Hutchison spoke about resolving conflict and building relationships. She spoke about how as humans; when we see a mess our first instinct is to roll up our sleeves and help clean it up, and often when we’re cleaning it up, we’re standing next to the person who created the mess. I really loved that quote and it put things into perspective for me. I think this is a huge part of it. I think a way to help manage conflict is to accept that it happened and then listen. How did the conflict start? Why did it happen? Why is it bad that it’s here? Why is it important to resolve it? How can we find a way to resolve it? What can we do? Who/what do we need? After setting up a relationship with each other, we can listen. Once we listen we can understand. Once we understand, we can talk about it more. Once we talk about it a little more, we can begin to separate people from the problem. And once we’re ready to clean up the mess. We’ll do it together. Coming to a resolution can only happen if we take the time to assess, break apart the components and listen. Communication, once again, is everything.