How to Have Difficult Conversations • 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, starting June 10 • 4:30–6 PM • Fireside Room

How to Have Difficult Conversations
Using Language that Promotes Understanding and Connection — Not Division

presented by Ed Collins and Michael Hagerty

Want to heal a family quarrel before one of you dies?

Want to have a Thanksgiving family dinner with that argumentative relative attending?

Want to begin healing the nation’s political wounds by speaking with someone from “the other side”?

Ed Collins and Michael Hagerty will be teaching a two-hour session on how to have difficult conversations.

The methods we teach have been popularized by Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication and by Harvard University Law School’s Getting to YES.

Both methods involve:

• How to find the other side’s deeply held values

• How to avoid either side becoming angry or defensive

•  How to jointly craft solutions that respect both sides’ values.

We will have a fun “hands-on” practice, where you practice talking with your difficult other (role-played by another participant).

By the end of the session, you will have some new ideas on how to connect with difficult people, how to parry their anger, and how to appeal to their own deeply held values without giving up your own.

Drop-ins are welcome, but please register at the front desk or email mrhagerty@ucdavis.edu.