Communication Wellness: New Standards for Quality Communication in Organizations

“We, as a human race, have neither developed a knowledge base nor culture to successfully manage conflict.”It is well observed and documented that negative conflict has detrimental effects on relationships, psychological and physiological health, quality of performance, motivation and efficiency, as well as wellbeing in general.Despite this general recognition of the impact of conflict, we as a human race have neither developed a knowledge base nor culture to successfully manage conflict. The most common responses to conflict are ending communication and ignoring conflict or even violence, which in turn only makes conflict worse. On top of that, the common perception of the source of conflict is that it is the other person’s fault; that he or she is mean, crazy, egotistical, etc.Even less than knowledge of how to deal with conflict, have people developed the knowledge base and culture for communication wellness and standards for quality communication. There are many programs, books, training courses, etc., dealing with these issues, but neither organizations nor society in general have adopted the culture of communication wellness.This does not mean that human beings in general do not appreciate the experience of high-quality communication, but we do not have appropriate tools nor understanding of communication dynamics nor general awareness or standards of a high level of communication nor mechanisms for its reparation when it deteriorates.This book proposes a new approach to perceiving, assessing, managing and repairing the quality of communication and offers some practical tools.“This is an extraordinary book, loaded with practical ideas and strategies to minimize conflict and improve communication in every area of business life.”Brian Tracy – Author – How the Best Leaders Lead“Communication Wellness builds on the transformative mediation framework and offers valuable insights about the crucial role of communication in conflict. Readers will find many helpful ideas about how to create and sustain constructive communication as difficult conflicts unfold.”Joseph P. Folger, Ph.D. is a Professor at Temple University, Philadelphia PA and is the current president of the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation.“Marko Iršič brings together a wealth of material from across the disciplines of mediation, workplace psychology, organisational change, and people development, in this comprehensive, practical and positive book that should enable any organisation to take effective steps to limit the damage that conflict causes to people and productivity.”Katherine Graham, Chair of CMP Resolutions and Co-author of the book Mediation for Managers “Marko Iršič moves the paradigm of transformative mediation into a broader spectrum of communication, giving it a new sense of meaning and importance to society as a whole. He presents a practical and useful tool on how to gain more knowledge and awareness about constructive interaction, crucial to overall well-being in interpersonal communication. This will improve the transformative capacity of individuals, organizations and communities on how to deal with conflicts.”Reny Tuinstra, MfN-registered mediator and CoachMarko Irsic takes the ‘Promise of Mediation’ to the next level, elaborating on how to address conflict before it escalates, for better interpersonal communication and improved relationships. A useful overview and concrete guide to humanizing our world.Hania M. Fedorowicz, European Institute for Community-based Conflict Resolution.Marko Iršič’s book brilliantly demonstrates that communication wellness is not only desirable but also that it is possible. Moreover, when such programs are put in place, they work incredibly well and “wellness” becomes an accurate word to describe the relations between members of the organisation.”Thierry Garby, Mediator, Founder of UIA World Forum of Mediation Centers, Author of Agreed!