Steamboat Pilot & Today

After the hotly contested Nov. 1 City Council elections, Leadership Steamboat is sponsoring a daylong conflict resolution workshop by an internationally known mediator.

Leadership Steamboat's Sandy Evans Hall said Merle Lefkoff would help community leaders learn to communicate and collaborate more effectively in pursuit of common goals during a Dec. 2 workshop.

Lefkoff has been called in to mediate conflicts in the Middle East, Ireland and Bosnia. Evans Hall said Lefkoff's work is based on a belief that most conflict involves a breakdown in communication and that constructive communication is instrumental in building strong relationships and resolving conflicts.

The workshop runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the conference room at the Ranch at Steamboat. Evans Hall promised an "experiential workshop" with ample opportunity for fun. Along the way, she expects community leaders to learn why adaptive leadership is important in complex communities such as Steamboat; how reframing can move differences toward common ground; the five conflict-handling modes; how to attack problems, not people by using non-blame communication; and collaborative versus adversarial approaches to problem solving.

Participants also should gain an understanding of the difference between positional and interest-based negotiation.

Lefkoff has been a trainer/facilitator for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Fellows, the Salzburg Seminar in Austria, the U.S. Bureau of Land Man--agement National Training Center, the Jerusalem Link and the American Leadership Forum, among others. She recently concluded a three-year appointment as guest scientist at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She lives in Santa Fe, N.M., and on San Juan Island, Wash. Colorado is close to her heart, and in addition to thinking about how to transform conflict in complex adaptive systems, she backpacks, climbs and skis.

The $12 fee for the workshop includes lunch and beverages. Reservations are required. Call 879-0882.