February 5th, 2026
You know that feeling when you're in a meeting and things start to get uncomfortable. People aren't showing up as their best selves. It's tense. You can feel people averting their eyes. Maybe you're doing it too. 🙈
Carolyn McKanders and Bob Garmston, in their brilliant book Teachers as Facilitators, teach mindsets as tools for facilitators. Mindsets are the foundation of effective work with people.
One of the mindsets they teach is Never Let a Conflict Go to Waste. This mindset is so powerful! When you can get your mind to see conflict as an opportunity, new thinking opens up. One good thing about conflict is it makes something that may have been hidden visible. When something is visible, it can be an opportunity to do something about it. A possibility.
This shift in thinking, from dreading conflict to seeing its potential, is exactly what we'll be exploring in depth this spring.
Using the resources that Carolyn and Bob developed, I'm thrilled to be teaching a two-day workshop with my good friend, Dr. Phil Echols. Facilitator Mindsets is for anyone who facilitates meetings or goes to meetings. It's for people who work with people. Phil and I have been refining these practices for years, and we're excited to create space for deep practice and reflection together.
A Next Step
The next time you're in a meeting that starts to go sideways, take a minute to pause. Notice what the tension is revealing. What's becoming visible that wasn't before? How might this conflict actually be showing you something important that needs attention?
