Conflict Managed
Conflict Managed is a podcast about toxic workplaces and how to fix them. Listen to stories of dysfunction and triumph from different walks of life and professions. Join us on the journey as we talk about the good, bad, and ugly of our work environments and discuss a vision for the future of human-centered workplaces where people are not only treated with dignity and respect but encouraged to be their brilliant selves. Managing Conflict is not magic, though it takes intentional and sustained planning for health to win over chaos in any environment. Conflict is normal and expected. Let’s deal with it.
Episodes

Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
What Role Does Art Play In Business?
Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
Tuesday Nov 15, 2022
Today on Conflict Managed, Dr. Leslie LaChance, a poet and educator, shares her thoughts on the role of practicing the arts in business and everyday life, and how the participation in art can calm us, inducing self-reflection and a greater capacity to listen and create. Leslie talks about her first bosses as excellent teachers, seeing correction as opportunity instead of failure, and the importance of how we communicate ideas with others. Leslie also graces us with one of her poems.
Leslie LaChance is a poet, essayist, and freelance editor living in Nashville, Tennessee, where she also teaches literature and writing classes and collaborates with fellow artists on creative projects. Some of her poems and stories have appeared in Still: The Journal, Mead, Quiddity, Apple Valley Review, The Birmingham Poetry Review, The Greensboro Review, Juked, and other journals. How She Got That Way, her poetry chapbook, was published in the quartet edition Mend & Hone from Toadlily Press in 2013. Three of her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and her poem “Left” received a Best of the Net Award from Sundress.net.
Leslie has published articles and reviews in magazines and journals such as The East Nashvillian, Stirring: A Literary Collection, and AWP Pedagogy Forum. She blogs about health, illness, survivorship, and well-being at Sojourn & Stardust. Leslie also edits articles for magazines and academic journals and assists both professional and aspiring authors in preparing manuscripts for publication. She has taught writing and literature courses at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Volunteer State Community College, University of Tennessee (Knoxville and Martin campuses), and Webb School of Knoxville. Leslie also teaches community workshops and professional development seminars in poetry and creative practice.
A Little Pep Talk*
Ace, your soul
is made of diamonds
and that’s just science
like how the wind shapes
itself to love you
in broad daylight
as you are
Human as you are
know this: your
breath is holy
smoke
Sweet thing, your brain
has serious game and
your heart that’s
always breaking
shimmers kinstukuroi
in gold repair
* A found poem inspired by Pep Talk Generator crafted by the Raccoon Society
Arrangement and Improvisation by Leslie LaChance
Conflict Managed is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
An Extremely Uncomfortable Situation
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Tuesday Nov 08, 2022
Today on Conflict Managed, Brittney Johnson shares with us highlights of her work in Spain as well as a very tough situation. Listen as she tells us what happened and how she addressed the negative incident. Brittney also shares her experience of entering the workforce as Covid hit, and what that has meant for her and her friends as they think about work/life balance and the benefits of remote and hybrid work.
Brittney Johnson is from Martin, Tennessee. In May 2020, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Middle Tennessee State with a Bachelor of Science in Global Studies, a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, and a minor in Economics. After a few Covid related delays, she moved to Spain on a Fulbright grant. Due to the delays, she was permitted to reapply and was selected for a subsequent Fulbright grant for the 2021–2022 academic year. Brittney is still in Galicia, Spain, teaching at a public secondary school for a third academic year.
You can find Brittney on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/brittney-johnson-70a25618a
Conflict Managed is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
What Makes Good Work?
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
Today on Conflict Managed, Kevin Adelsberger, founder and managing partner of Adelsberger Marketing, talks of the 3 P’s of good work: purpose, possibility, and prosperity. Kevin tells us how he manages his growing business through taking time to listen to his employees, his semi-successful ‘Book It’ program, and the detrimental effects of working in a chaotic environment. Listen as Kevin talks about what he learned working for a bad boss and board, offering advice for those caught in toxic work environments.
Kevin Adelsberger is the founder and managing partner of Adelsberger Marketing where they make creative work that grows their clients’ businesses in a culture that values their team and community of Jackson, Tennessee. Kevin is also a Cofounder of Our Jackson Home and serves on the Board of Madison County CASA, theCO, and an advisory committee for Leadership Tennessee NEXT. In 2019 Adelsberger Marketing sold a portion of ownership to Alexander, Thompson and Arnold CPAS, and became a member of their Family of Firms.
In 2015, Kevin graduated from the Jackson Chamber’s Leadership Jackson program. In 2016, Kevin was recognized as an emerging leader by Leadership Jackson. In 2017, Adelsberger Marketing was named the Emerging Business of the Year by the Jackson Chamber. In 2020, Union University gave Kevin recognition for Distinguished Achievement in Arts and media. In 2022 Kevin graduated from Leadership Tennessee NEXT and UT Martin’s WestStar leadership program.
Kevin lives in Jackson with his wife and business partner Renae and their three children. They are involved members of First Baptist Church, Jackson. They are also some of the few to cheer on the Minnesota Vikings from below the Mason-Dixon line.
You can find Kevin online at:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kadelsberger/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adelsbergermarketing
Twitter: https://twitter.com/k_adelsberger
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kadelsberger
Mentioned on this podcast:
The Power of Work Friends (hbr.org),
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford
Please like and subscribe to Conflict Managed wherever you listen to podcasts.
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
The Everyday Superpower You’re Not Using
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Today on Conflict Managed, Lucia Kanter St. Amour talks with us about her new book, For the Forces of Good: The Superpower of Everyday Negotiation. She also discusses the power of mentorship, rapport building, and mediation.
Lucia Kanter St. Amour is a VP for UN women USA, practicing attorney, and former law professor turned everyday negotiation superhero. She’s here to show you how to harness your everyday negotiation superpowers, so you can land your dream job, get your kids to eat their peas, and be the most powerful person in the room. As the author of the most inclusive and comprehensive 21st century negotiation guide you’ll ever need, For the Forces of Good, Lucia knows that negotiation isn’t just for business. It’s everybody’s business.
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
The Neuroscience of Conflict
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
Today on Conflict Managed, Dr. Melinda Burrell talks with us about the neuroscience of conflict, turning fear and anger into growth opportunities, and the universal importance of treating all people with respect. She shares personal workplace conflict experiences dealing with courage and the aftermath of mismanaged organizational change (with a twist). We discuss David Rock’s SCARF model, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, John Gottman’s “Magic Ratio”, and Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow.
Melinda Burrell is a democracy and peacebuilding specialist who has spent 25 years living and working in conflict zones, from helping oversee the first post-war elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina to leading a humanitarian mission into Lebanon during the 2006 Israel/Hezbollah war. Her recent doctoral dissertation explored how Americans experience talking across political divides.
Dr. Burrell now writes, speaks, and trains on the neuroscience of communication and conflict. As a board member of the National Association for Community Mediation, she supports dispute resolution centers around the country as they help their communities resolve conflicts such as those between neighbors, landlords and tenants, citizens and police, and, most recently, schoolboards and parents.
Website: Melindaburrell.com
Twitter: @MelindaCBurrell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-burrell-3b24371b/
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Valuing People’s Time
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Have you ever worked on a project, investing your time, effort, and energy only to find out your boss (or organization) didn’t really care about what you worked on… or maybe they never even looked at it?
Today on Conflict Managed, Dr. Kevin Timpe discusses the importance of valuing workers through respecting their time. Kevin talks about the value of clarifying work expectations, the role of strong emotions in the workplace, and his ADA advocacy work.
Kevin Timpe is Professor and Department Chair of Philosophy at Calvin University. He holds the endowed William H. Jellema Chair in Christian Philosophy. His academic interests include free will, virtue ethics, philosophy of religion, philosophy of disability, and metaphysics.
Some of Kevin’s recent books and articles include:
"Denying a Unified Concept of Disability," The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy(forthcoming in 2022).
"Agency and Disability," in The Routledge Handbook of Agency, edited by Luca Ferrero (Routledge, 2022):159-168.
"What are Intended as Systems of Support become Systems of Struggle," Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture(2021).
The Virtues: A Very Short Introduction, with Craig Boyd. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
Routledge Companion to Free Will, edited with Meghan Griffith & Neil Levy. New York: Routledge, 2016.
Free Will and Theism: Connections, Contingencies, and Concerns, edited with Daniel Speak. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Virtues and Their Vices, edited with Craig Boyd. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Free Will in Philosophical Theology, Bloomsbury Studies in Philosophy of Religion. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.
Free Will and Its Alternatives, 2nd and expanded edition. London: Bloomsbury, 2012.
Metaphysics and God: Essays in Honor of Eleonore Stump. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Arguing about Religion. New York: Routledge, 2009.
“DefiantAfterlife—Disability and Uniting Ourselves to God,” in Voices from the Edge: Centering Marginalized Perspectives in Analytic Theology, ed. Michelle Panchuk and Michael Rea, Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology (Oxford University Press, 2020): 206–231.
"The Lost Sheep in Philosophy of Religion: New Perspectives on Disability, Gender, Race, and Animals, edited with Blake Hereth". New York: Routledge, 2019.
“‘Upright , Whole, and Free’—Eschatological Union with God,” TheoLogica2.2 (2018),1-16.
Kevin also runs a disability advocacy group, 22 Advocacy, that focuses primarily on helping families of disabled students get the supports they’re supposed to under federal education law.
You can find Kevin online at:
https://kevintimpe.com/blog/
https://www.facebook.com/22Advocacy
https://twitter.com/22Advocacy
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Optimize Conflict to Drive Innovation and Creativity
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Is conflict at work always bad? Is there anything good that comes out of conflict?
Today on Conflict Managed, David Liddle, founder and CEO of The TCM Group, argues it is time to move beyond simply addressing conflict and towards harnessing the vast potential managed conflict brings to organizations. He asks us to consider if our current HR practices and systems lead to restorative (constructive/human-centric/future focused) or retributive (destructive/blame/shame/backwards focused) outcomes. David discusses the most important features of organizations, hybrid work environments, the causes of conflict, and the need for us to learn how to disagree well.
David Liddle is CEO of The TCM Group and president of the Institute of Organisational Dynamics. He is author of ‘MANAGING CONFLICT’ (Kogan Page/CIPD) and his second book, ‘TRANSFORMATIONAL CULTURE’ was recently shortlisted as Business Book of the Year. David is currently working on a new text for the Economist entitled ‘How to Disagree Well’ and the 2nd Edition of Managing Conflict is due to be published in early 2023.
Originating from Nottingham in the East Midlands, David has extensive experience of cultural transformation, conflict resolution and leadership development. In the early nineties, David established and ran the Leicestershire Mediation Service for eight years – one of the first community mediation programs in the UK.
In 2001, David established The TCM Group – Putting People First™. His vision for TCM was, and still is, to help organizations to develop purpose driven, values based and person-centered cultures. For the past two decades, David has been at the forefront of conflict management, human resources, employee relations and leadership best practice. In 2021, David was recognized as one of the global top 20 HR most influential thinkers and in 2022, he was invited to join the prestigious Thinkers50 Radar.
David has built a world class team of consultants and a head office team who work with numerous household names to develop and integrate fair, just, inclusive, sustainable and high performing systems, cultures and leadership practices. David was awarded his MBA with distinction after studying the use of mediation and ADR within three large organizations. David has created the FAIR Model™ which is the benchmark mediation and investigations model in use in workplaces across the UK.
David is a father of three beautiful children and, when he is not mediating or writing, he enjoys cycling and a spot of amateur dramatics.
You can find David Liddle online at:
linkedin.com/in/liddledavid
https://thetcmgroup.com/us/
david.liddle@thetcmgroup.com,
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

Tuesday Sep 27, 2022
Courage is the Bridge Between Conflict and Connection
Tuesday Sep 27, 2022
Tuesday Sep 27, 2022
Caught in a work conflict? Not sure what to do?
Today on Conflict Managed, Marlene Chism, seasoned speaker, thought partner, advisor, coach, and author, encourages us to change the narrative in difficult circumstances. Marlene recounts a situation at work where she backed down from what was in her best interest. Convinced “there’s nothing I can do about it now,” she was encouraged to rethink that narrative and be creative. She wasn’t powerless. She could choose to act. Did she? What was the outcome? Listen to find out how one act of courage can change a person’s life.
Marlene Chism is CEO of Marlene Chism Consulting, which offers a comprehensive suite of consulting services to businesses and leaders. Widely recognized as the leading US authority on stopping workplace drama, she works with C-Suite leaders to build drama-free cultures that drive growth and reduce costly mistakes. Marlene is known for helping managers address “the elephant in the room” and initiate conversations that get results. Her expertise includes leadership development, conflict management, and strategic communications.
Marlene’s leadership development courses are instrumental in teaching mid-level and senior leaders the strategic communication skills to initiate conversations that get results and increase accountability. She’s a recognized expert on the LinkedIn (formerly Lynda) global learning platform, producing educational videos on Anger Management, Having Difficult Conversations, Working with High Conflict People, and Managing Conflict and Getting Results in a Hybrid Work Environment.
In addition to her latest work From Conflict to Courage: How to Stop Avoiding and Start Leading (2022) Marlene has authored Stop Workplace Drama (Wiley 2011), No-Drama Leadership (Bibliomotion 2015), and Stop Drama in Your Healthcare Practice (Greenbranch 2018).
Marlene has a degree in communications from Drury University, and a master’s degree in human resources development from Webster University. She is an advanced practitioner in Narrative coaching.
You can find Marlene online at:
https://marlenechism.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlenechism/
https://www.youtube.com/marlenechism
Please like and subscribe to Conflict Managed wherever you listen to podcasts.
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
The Power of Persistence
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
You will fail. You will have difficult times. When hard times come your way, what will you do?
Today on Conflict Managed, Randy Boyd, University of Tennessee President, encourages us to persevere in the face of hardship. He tells us the four things he has discovered successful businesses do, settling disputes with win/win/win in mind (you’ll have to listen to find out what the extra win is!), and a great program, The Birthday Lunch and Listen, where people from across the organization are celebrated and listened to as well as creating an opportunity for employees to network with each other.
Randy Boyd was appointed as the 26th president of the University of Tennessee System by the UT Board of Trustees March 27, 2020, following a 16-month period as interim president. Boyd founded Knoxville-based Radio Systems Corporation, a company that produces over 4,000 pet related products under the brand names PetSafe, Invisible Fence, ScoopFree and SportDOG. The company employs more than 1,400 people with offices in six countries around the world.
Boyd Sports, LLC, owned by Randy and Jenny Boyd, owns the Greeneville Flyboys and Tennessee Smokies. The company also owns the Johnson City Doughboys, Elizabethton River Riders and operates the Kingsport Axmen.
Boyd also served the state of Tennessee in numerous roles, including serving as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and as the governor’s special advisor on higher education where he was the architect for Tennessee Promise and Drive to 55. He is also the founder and chairman of the non-profit Tennessee Achieves.
Randy and Jenny Boyd have dedicated their lives to giving back. In 2018, the couple formed the Boyd Foundation to further promote youth education, mental health, the arts and animal welfare. Among the Foundation’s many philanthropic commitments is the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research and the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s Boyd Venture Challenge seed grant program for student entrepreneurs, both through the Haslam College of Business at UT Knoxville.
Boyd is the first in his family to graduate from college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis on industrial management from UT Knoxville. He also earned a master’s degree in liberal studies with a focus on foreign policy from the University of Oklahoma.
The Boyds live in Knoxville and have two children and two grandchildren.
You can find Randy Boyd online at utpresident@tennessee.edu.
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

Tuesday Sep 13, 2022
Belonging
Tuesday Sep 13, 2022
Tuesday Sep 13, 2022
When you think of belonging, what does it mean to you at work? Do you feel you belong where you work? Why?
Today on Conflict Managed, Kristin Dunn, Director of Systems Advancement at AIMHiTN, talks to us about her remote job, which she joined a year before the pandemic hit. Kristin discusses the benefits of a remote workforce, crafting caring policies, the importance of reflective practices, and being creative to stay connected. Kristen also shares with us how she has (and is) dealing with recent health issues and being a working mother. She tells us what it’s like to work for an organization who has come along side her, supporting her with resources and assistance, to continue to work through her difficult health challenges.
Kristin Dunn received her bachelor’s degree in Child and Families Studies with a minor in Political Science from the University of Tennessee at Martin and her master’s degree in Recreational Therapy from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Upon graduation, she spent time in Washington DC with the Children Rights Council advocating for children to have access to both parents. Kristin then went onto providing Recreational Therapy for Adolescents in Residential Treatment in Chattanooga, TN. She later served 10 years of her career in Prevention and Early Intervention Services in Knoxville, TN, including Healthy Families Home Visiting Program and the Regional Intervention Program. She joined AIMHiTN in 2019. Kristin enjoys sharing with others about Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and learning about all the great work Tennessee is doing.
During her time off she enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling with her husband, cheering on the Volunteers, and being outdoors. Her professional and personal motto is "Every child (person) should know a little joy every day."
You can find Kristin Dunn online at https://aimhitn.org/about-us/staff-board.
Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com. Our music is courtesy of Dove Pilot.

We want to hear from you!
Do you have a story, insight, or vision for healthy workplaces you'd like to share with Conflict Managed listeners? Do you have a question for our guests or host, Merry Brown? Contact us at 3PConflictRestoration@gmail.com.
Conflict Managed is produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services. Music is by Dove Pilot, https://dovepilot.com/.