[Resolve] next steps?

[John Windmueller]

Hi folks,

Shortly after this list got created, we went around introducing
ourselves, and I noticed few things...

1. There are plenty of conflict throughout the IMC, both at the
community and international levels.  
      That's not meant to imply anything negative or out of the
ordinary.  It's hard to imagine any large organization not having
conflict, particularly a still emerging one composed of a diverse group
of political and media activists.

2. A lot of the IMC conflicts at the community/center level aren't
unique.
     Other IMCs have faced them or are in the midst of them, and folks
sharing stories about how they've worked through them has been helpful.
Not that one IMC's "solution" will necessarily fit others.  But
conflicts seem to have a habit of quickly getting personalized, and
while that's sometimes valid, I think it helps to see that some of these
conflicts really aren't unique to particularly personalities... they're
nested in what the IMC is going through in general.  

3. There are s a lot of folks "here" (on the list) who are committed to
trying to help the IMC find constructive ways to work with these
conflicts.  

Since the introductions, the list has seen a lot of traffic, but not a
lot of use for resolving conflict.  A few people have posted stories
about conflicts in their own IMC, and folks have replied back with what
they thought the "right" resolution to the conflict was--which is really
in line with how courts handle conflict (arbitration), not conflict
resolution.  

So now that we've done some introductions, if we're trying as a group to
help IMCs resolve conflict, what would be some useful next steps?

John