A clear understanding of the strategies and tactics available in conflict situations is vital for both facilitators and participants in conflict. The ability to engage conflict in a proactive, measured and rational way is vital in helping achieve your objectives, and so it is important to understand some of the available strategies and tactics beforehand:

• Avoidance this is a classic passive aggressive strategy and includes postponement, control process, resorting to formal rules , equivocation , ignoring the conflict , 'fogging' or misunderstanding the position and the argument

• Maintain quid-pro-quo or eye-for-an-eye conflict that brings up the injustices of the past and the associated emotions, agreeing on rules for maintenance going forward
• Reduce inquire , fragment , compromise, write research & position papers, compromise, develop “strategic ambiguity”, create partnerships, highlight common interest
• Escalate expanding the issue, blaming, labelling & naming, attacking personalities, threats, formation of coalitions, “winner takes” all approach
• Initiate useful to destract / attract attention as a 'red herring'
• Reframe involves renaming or re-labelling the core issue, problem or the 'enemy', it is also useful to reframe what you understand by the word 'conflict' and where this comes from
• Resolution a conflict situation resolved to the benefit of all is traditionally the goal of conflict management interventions but in reality conflict is a normal aspect of organisational and interpersonal relationships

Conflict is a characteristic of all situations where there are unequal distributions of power. Rather than being seen in a completely negative light, it is important to understand that groups cannot function effectively without conflict, that not all conflicts can be resolved and that conflicts don’t necessarily occur because people don’t understand - they understand perfectly but don’t agree with the position.

Based on the Creative Conflict Management workshop Trans4mation Blog (c) used with permission.