In Getting to Resolution, Stewart Levine gives readers an exciting new set of tools for resolving personal and business conflicts. Marriages run amuck, neighbors at odds with one another, business deals gone sour, and the pain and anger caused by corporate downsizing and layoffs are just a few of the conflicts he addresses.

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Product Description

It is not conflict that undermines our ability to forge successful business and personal relationships, but rather our inability to reach true resolution of conflict. The cost in time, money, resources, lost opportunity, and emotion is staggering.

In Getting to Resolution, Stewart Levine gives readers an exciting new set of tools for resolving personal and business conflicts. Marriages run amuck, neighbors at odds with one another, business deals gone sour, and the pain and anger caused by corporate downsizing and layoffs are just a few of the conflicts he addresses.

Levine rejects the adversarial model for legal settlement: "If both sides are unhappy, you probably have a good settlement." Resolution, he maintains, provides relief and completeness for both sides. No one goes away unhappy. Effective resolution stops anger and resentment cold, drastically cutting the emotional cost and allowing both sides to return to productive, satisfying, functional relationships. Levine goes beyond existing publications by offering more than just new ideas and approaches. He provides specific models that take readers step-by-step through the twin processes of crafting collaborative agreements and resolving conflicts. His unique 7-step model works to resolve conflicts that arise in everyday business and personal relationships. He offers tools to get right to the core of every conflict-the painful breakdown of communication and disappointment between two people or groups.

Levine's model has a twenty-five-year track record. It has been developed, implemented, tested, and proven in business, personal, and governmental contexts. Levine provides a new paradigm for resolving conflict, not so that someone wins and someone loses, but so that everyone can go forward quickly and productively.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #288032 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 226 pages

From Library Journal
"Spit happens," says Levine in this practical book on conflict resolution, and he proposes a structured, seven-step collaborative model for dealing with it. A self-styled "resolutionist," Levine has 25 years of experience dealing with conflict as a lawyer, mediator, consultant, and trainer. He suggests that disputes can be resolved by practicing ten basic principles ranging from an "assumption of abundance" (there is more than enough to go around in this conflict) to a state of being what he calls "responsAble" (looking to oneself rather than to outside professionals for solutions). While much of Levine's model depends on a healthy state of optimism ("Remember. The glass is half full"), his process has real application not only for third-party mediators but also for individuals in the middle of a dispute, and it can be self-administered. He makes the process accessible, neatly summarizing each chapter and sprinkling his presentation liberally with cogent quotes and useful examples. Recommended for all public libraries.?Julie Denny, Alliance for Mediation & Conflict Resolution, Inc., Amenia, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher
Questions for Discussion:

1. Why is resolution more useful than compromise or settlement?

2. What is your attitude about conflict? Share how conflict was dealt with in your early environment. Do you deal with conflict in the same way? Have you made a conscious choice about how you want to address conflict in your life?

3. What are the four main costs of conflict?

4. Do you think winning and being right gets in the way of fostering long term relationships?

5. Do you suffer from scarcity thinking? Do you think that it always must be either you or them, or is it possible for you to both get what you want?

6. If you have ever been involved in a lawsuit share how the litigation process affected the conflict in terms of time, money intensity, duration, and trust.

7. When was the last time posturing and withholding helped you quickly resolve a situation? Is there a current conflict in which you might show more vulnerability and greater disclosure?

8. Do you think it might be useful to think about the process of resolving conflict as an exercise in group learning? Why?

9. Is there an unresolved situation in your life that you could take more personal responsibility for resolving?

10. To give yourself insight into the value of listening spend part of a day in silence, just listening and observing what goes on in your workplace. Share what you hear and learn.

11. Practice the completion process. Focus on one internal situation of conflict, one at work, and one at home. Share what happened for you.

12. What is an agreement based on covenant? What is the best way to establish one?

13. Why are the laws of agreement so important?

14. What are the difference between the process of agreement; the phenomenon of agreement; and the artifact of agreement?

15. Use the agreement template to craft an agreement about a project that you want to make happen in the world. Do this with your reading group. Notice how the resources you need to support the project start to appear.

16. Practice the resolution model for 21 days (new thinking and new actions.) This is the time it takes to develop a new habit. After 21 days meet with your reading group to discuss the changes you see.

17. Look at all of your business relationships through the lens of agreement. Notice the implicit and explicit agreements that guide your actions. Craft new explicit agreements using the models in the book.

18. What are some of the essential qualities that a resolutionary has?

Courtesy of Berrett-Koehler Publishers BERRETT-KOEHLER STUDY GUIDE

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Customer Reviews

Use a collaborative process for conflict resolution, instead of a costly legal battle
Stewart Levine, lawyer and management consultant, has a unique view on resolving conflict. He spent 12 years settling conflict in court, and has spent the last 19 years teaching business people a less costly, more collaborative way to resolve conflict. Conflict is unavoidable, says Levine, but learning to deal with it in a more productive way is not. In Getting To Resolution, Levine has outlined a step-by-step plan for turning conflict into collaboration.

· Get in the right frame of mind. The first essential step to resolving conflict is to want to resolve it. Open up and be truthful. You must commit to and invest yourself in the process.
· Stop thinking of conflict as a win/lose proposition. Arguing over who's right often does not lead to a resolution that anyone wants. When you are committed to collaboration, you will disarm those who are committed to a fight. Focus on what the conflict is costing everyone and what everyone can gain from a resolution.
· Tell your story and listen to the story of the other side. Resolution arises from sharing information, while conflict arises from withholding it.
· Test out your preliminary vision about how the conflict can be resolved. As you get more information, check to make sure that your vision meets the concerns of all the parties involved.
· Get current and complete information on the issues. You must be up-to-date in order to move forward with a resolution.
· Reach an agreement in principle. Come to a broad understanding of what the resolution will be.
· Create a template for agreement including the following elements: Intent, specific vision, roles, commitments to action, timeline, measurements of satisfaction, concerns and fears, renegotiation, dissolution, consequences, dispute resolution, and management of the process.

A Solid Effort!
Reluctant attorney, Stewart Levine, provides a rational framework to justify spending his life avoiding conflict and confrontation. Even in the business world, he takes a pass on legal action and other logical ways of fighting back in a conflict. Instead, when opinions differ and arguments flourish, he seeks a higher course of reconciliation and collaboration. His seven-step resolution process saves time and money, launders egos, and advances clarity. Although each chapter is summed up almost too tidily in a final paragraph, or even a final sentence, Levine does not stint. In each chapter, he shares real world examples from his life and career. We at getAbstract recommend this book to anyone who wants to rationalize a business deal based solely on trust, to anyone searching for a deal-making scenario where lawyers are not invited, and to people who are looking for the words to express their desire to just get along.

Conflict Resolution: A wonderfully Simple Approach
One of the wisest sayings in history said that 'one will never know true happiness unless they have experienced true sorrow.' It is this idea that drives our lives, that keeps it interesting and worth living. Conflict is what makes the joys in life so beautiful, but it is also one of the most misunderstood facts of human existence. Conflict is not bound by negative or positive. Conflict is the act of "engagement, learning, creativity and the opportunity for creative value," (xiii) according to Stewart Levine.

It is he who wrote Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration. It is this book that we will now consider. From its definition of conflict to its detailed process on how to turn conflict into collaboration, Stewart Levine simply presents what role conflict should play in each of our lives.

Stewart Levine defines conflict as a process of creation and discovery. He criticizes many sects including law, government and other business groups that view a good resolution to conflict as being one sided. Levine argues that a true resolution has not been reached until both sides are satisfied. That is why he has developed a 7-Step model for conflict resolution. It goes as follows:

1. The attitude of resolution

2. Telling your story

3. Listening for a preliminary vision of resolution

4. Getting current and complete

5. Reaching agreement in principle

6. Crafting the new agreement

7. Resolution

Levine states his points very eloquently and simply, which is his greatest strength. He eliminates a lot of the corporate jargon and disciplined mumbo-jumbo from his rhetoric, which simply leaves the meat of the subject - how to resolve conflict. Levine begins his text by showing the costs of conflict, both physical and intangible. He points out that time wasted in conflict can cost a company or organization thousands, whereas a quick and efficient resolution can move an organization forward at an even greater rate. He then presents a model on how resolution is attained and ten principles necessary to finding that resolution. They include such traits as creativity, vulnerability and responsibility.

Later in the book, Levine even presents a short section on where to go to find assistance in resolving conflict. He discusses the law community, not specifically but in a broad sense that shows what could happen in a court setting, arbitration or a mini-trial. Levine also discusses the attributes of an arbitrator or resolutionary as he calls it.

All of his definitions and processes make a considerable amount of sense and could be easily applied to every day conflict. Whether in the home or workplace, these processes should be strictly adhered to. When you consider the seven steps above, one can see the obvious need for each. Firstly attitude. One must be in the right mindset in order to seek resolution. Then you must tell your story - frankly and unbiasedly. Next you must listen to the other side and consider possible points of resolution in what you both said. The fourth step would be to clarify your understanding, or becoming current and complete as Levine puts it. Then you reach a preliminary agreement, then solidify it and finally implement the resolution. It is simple and if done efficiently, could take but moments to work through. Levine should be congratulated for his work with this book. Its simplicity and frankness made it extremely enjoyable and with little time to spare, it was nice to take up a book that read so quickly. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is seeking a more definite way to find resolution in all the conflicts of life. Ultimately, finding that resolution will make your life more gratifying and complete.