Buzz
Engaging in a dispute with someone close to you can be challenging. If not handled carefully, it can quickly escalate and spiral out of control. To prevent this, The Wall Street Journal consulted Dr. Hal Shorey for a five-step strategy.
The goal is to reach a point where both you and your partner can calmly address the issue, communicate openly, and create a plan to resolve it. Here are the five steps:
Wait until you are both calm before starting the conversation
Let go of the need to be right. Focus less on specifics and more on expressing your feelings
Express your understanding of how the other person is feeling
Resist the urge to justify your actions or defend yourself
Recognize that healing will take time. Agree on a time to revisit the issue and assess progress
It’s never simple, and as we’ve discussed before, it requires considerable effort to reach a point where progress is being made and arguments are productive. However, the five-step guide above should at least help maintain civility.
Photo by Brad Fults.
