Application areas

Conflict management

Not a conflict-solving tool itself, the Diversity Icebreaker is a powerful trust-booster that can serve to facilitate conflict-resolution processes.
Research, which we have conducted with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, showed that the Diversity Icebreaker increases trust and positive affect, and decreases negative affect among the workshop participants. 

The tool can be used to lay ground for conflict-resolution processes by reducing the time conflicted parties remain in the critical, first phase , characterized by distrust and negative emotions.

The workshop creates a new language to talk about differences - detached from any concrete issues the conflicted parties may have strong feelings about. This language thus may become a new and positively loaded tool to discuss the issues relevant for the conflict further on. One can forget the "elephant in the room" for a while, a time required to establish trust and discuss the difficult issues later on. 
 

► CASE STUDIES

An interesting case describing how Diversity Icebreaker has been used integrate and solve communication problems between a company members spread across three different locations. Read more.

 

 

Watch video:

Applied in conflict management

The Diversity Icebreaker applied in conflict management: from Norway, through the Balkans, to the Middle East.

Bjørn Z. Ekelund shares tool's history and background relevant for conflict-resolution processes.

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