This spring and summer, I have been teaching Diversity Training for new police recruits at the Justice Institute of British Columbia’s Police Academy. For the course, I integrated Finding Home’s values-based approach to problem solving. The training enables the students to apply the practical skills and theoretical knowledge required for the cross-cultural problem solving, communication, and partnership building that is important in all aspects of police work. The goal is for new police recruits to understand different interpretations of the same event, learn tools to manage their own interpretations and reactions, and ultimately to increase their effectiveness in responding to challenging situations. My goal in providing this workshop is that new police recruits will first explore their triggers (interpretations and emotional reactions), before pulling a trigger.
Today the International Society for Performance Improvement hosted an event called “Conflict Resolution Cracker Barrel” where participants were given an opportunity to experience diverse Conflict Resolution approaches. I gave a taste of Finding Home’s cross-cultural and values-based approach. In my session, participants learned about how our interpretations influence our reactions and ultimately the decisions we make. We explored different interpretations of the same event and tools to clean up our own interpretations so that we can make more effective decisions.
Other practitioners included Gary Harper, who presented ”What’s your conflict style – It’s in the Cards;” Roy Johnson, facilitated his “Zingers – How to respond when you can’t believe how they responded;” Kim White, facilitated a session called “Coaching Through Conflict” and Raj Dhasi who led ”How Did This Conversation Go So Wrong?”
UBC’s Division of Aboriginal Health prepared a diverse group of students that were participating in summer internships in Aboriginal Communities at UBC’s First Nations House of Learning . I was invited me to give Finding Home’s cross-cultural training . I started with the stone game, which involves choosing a stone and then telling the stones’ creation story. Once everyone has shared a story, I asked how many people heard the story from the stone and how many people made up the story? This led to a dynamic discussion about listening, worldviews and stories. If you’d like to learn more about this training, contact us. Read more…
Gordon Neighbourhood House is having three professional development half days to receive Finding Home’s community engagement and diversity training. Today was the first module called “Home Matters.” . In this training, participants explore multiple meanings of home, factors that foster and erode a sense of belonging and identify the attitudes and behaviours that lead to building inclusive communities. At the end of today’s session, the team committed to de-cluttering their offices, a neighbourhood house wide Spring Cleaning and making their own work spaces more “homey.”
