Talking Across Difference and Difficulty

Core Principles

Every aspect of our work at Columbia Public Health is anchored in the core values of public health. Guided by a commitment to equity, we actively seek to create an inclusive environment that engages and celebrates all members of our community.

Our Values

We emphasize the importance of critical pedagogy as the methodology by which faculty and students can challenge and dismantle unequal power dynamics in the classroom, forming a true community in which experts and learners work together to create new knowledge. This kind of classroom climate is essential if productive conversations are to occur, especially those that involve challenging content.

Goals for Dialogue

• To learn about the perspectives of someone who differs from you
• To gain a sense of satisfaction about how you conveyed your views
• To discover some common ground (if it exists or can be developed)

Four Skills

1. Setting a constructive tone

• Let the other person know you want to learn about different perspectives.
• Ask permission to pose questions.
• Acknowledge your own point of view ("as you know, I'm liberal/conservative/etc.")

2. Listening so others feel heard

• Paraphrase what the other says to make sure that you understand and the other person feels heard.
• Ask real questions of understanding (versus loaded questions).

3. Speaking in a way that helps others hear

• Mention an area of similarity or agreement (if you see one).
• Before expressing a disagreement, say some version of "I hear you" (if you do).

4. Navigating ruptures

• Stay focused on a topic when the other person jumps around from issue to issue. ("Can we stay with immigration for now?")
• Don't return provocative statements in kind.

Join us for a workshop!

We invite faculty and doctoral students who are teaching to join us for these workshops. All take place in Hess Commons, lunch will be served. Please Register using the links below.

Talking Across Difference | De-escalation Toolkit

Navigating classroom and workplace dialogue in times of stress and challenge

In this skill-building workshop, we’ll explore techniques for navigating dialogue across difficulty and difference. Modeled on tools developed by the Consensus Building Institute and drawn from Transformative Mediation and Nonviolent Communication, these skills provide a framework for reaching across conflict effectively, in both personal and professional settings. You’ll learn practical approaches to supporting your students in charged classroom dialogues, including ways to de-escalate tensions and repair rupture.

Recipes for Receptivity

Gaining skills for supporting ourselves and our students when we encounter challenging information and divergent perspectives

In times of distress, the ability to absorb new information—especially that which challenges our prior assumptions and knowledge—can be limited. In this session, we’ll explore a “recipe for receptivity” developed by Gino, Minson, and Yeomans (2020) of Harvard Business School. These practical tools can help us support ongoing, effective learning for our students, even in the context of difficult dialogues and divergent narratives.