I had the great honor of spending a few days at NASA’s Johnson Space Center last week, conducting presentations and workshops for staff, directors…and astronauts (!!!). Above is shuttle veteran and now my hero John Casper, who attended one of my sessions.
Last year, I gave a spiel at the Texas Association of Mediators Conference, where I met folks from NASA’s Equal Employment and Diversity Office. Turns out, their Director, Deborah Urbanski, founded and ran a community mediation center back in the day, and she and her team have developed a robust internal dispute resolution system in the space agency. NASA’s Human Resources, Employee Assistance Program, Legal Division, Ombuds Office, and employee’s union, work seamlessly to offer a smorgasbord of conflict management services to the agency’s highly diverse workforce.
To raise awareness of NASA’s internal conflict management systems, observe Conflict Resolution Week, and build communications skills at all levels of the agency, they asked me to come on in and do some trainings — encouraging me to be as creative and offbeat as possible.
Read more from the Hecklist and [HERE] and check out the NY Peace Institute [HERE].