Learn how to address the 'elephant in the room' more effectively by clearly expressing observations, feelings, needs, and assumptions with the Experience Wheel. Together with Thea Schukken, we visualized the Experience Wheel in a nicely designed canvas.
How does this help your team?
Conflict is a natural part of working with other people. If you ask someone what conflict is, they usually explain it in terms of a verbal dispute, raised voices, slamming doors, and angry faces. But most of our conflicts are far less visible. They may not be explicitly expressed by those experiencing it, but they do influence the dynamics of a group. And either the whole group is aware of this, or some are. This is the proverbial ‘Elephant In The Room’.
Although surfacing elephants can be messy, difficult work, it rewards teams with growth and learning when done productively. Bringing an elephant to the surface also frees up significant psychological resources; instead of complaining about their teammates at the dinner table, team members can redirect that energy into solving problems, coming up with new ideas, and rejuvenating outside of work. Teams that learn how to surface elephants can dance with conflict instead of running away from it.
Together with the canvas, we developed a DIY workshop to learn how to address the elephant in the room more effectively with the Experience Wheel. It allows you to clearly express observations, feelings, needs, and assumptions and prevents jumping to wrong conclusions.
What do you receive?
- A large PDF with a canvas, ready for printing and sharing;
More inspiration
- Download a fully prepared string to use the Experience Wheel
- Read the article "Addressing the Elephant"
- Listen to the podcast episode "Conflict Styles: What Science Says & How Liberating Structures Can Help"
- Check the blog post "Navigating Conflict: A Lifetime of Work"