Thursday, November 20, 2025
2:00 – 3:30 pm ET

Model Appropriate Skills, Mitigate Conflict & Facilitate with Confidence

During this polarizing and divisive time in the United States, campuses mirror broader societal divides on social, political and cultural issues. Fears about “saying the wrong thing” or confrontation lead to an erosion of trust and community cohesion. Certain voices dominate while others feel silenced or unsafe to contribute, which can result in exclusion and anger.

To complicate matters, faculty, staff and student leaders often lack training to navigate difficult moments when discussions become tense. All of this can lead to avoidance of dialogue altogether.

Don’t wait for conflict to erupt, take steps now to build a proactive culture of dialogue. Equip yourself, faculty, staff and students with specific skills and facilitation techniques that will increase everyone’s confidence in conflict navigation.

Join us on November 20, 2025 when our expert presenter – Farzana Nayani, a recognized People & Culture specialist, executive coach and keynote speaker – will offer a clear roadmap that will make it easier for you to prepare for, sustain, and redirect difficult conversations with confidence, ensuring that all voices feel safe and supported.

This webinar will move beyond theory into practice, allowing you to actively practice skills you can immediately apply in classrooms, student affairs and team settings. You will be able to de-escalate and rebuild relationships, rather than avoid tough topics. Explore strategies designed to directly address polarization, mental health pressures, and generational differences with practical, realistic solutions tailored to higher education contexts.

Topics Covered

Gain crucial, actionable takeaways that will help you: 

• Turn tense moments into teachable moments with a framework for turning high-stakes or emotionally charged moments into opportunities for transforming conflict into growth.
• Use structured facilitation tools to keep conversations balanced and inclusive, based on shared expectations and norms that establish psychological safety, encourage open participation, reduce defensiveness and invite deeper dialogue.
• Create a ripple effect of civility by modeling respectful dialogue so that it spreads across classrooms, departments, and student organizations, shaping the overall campus climate.
• Strengthen skills in listening and questioning by equipping yourself, staff and faculty with practical tools to model curiosity, active listening and open-ended inquiry that invite diverse perspectives.
• Respond calmly to tension by gaining strategies for pausing, reframing and redirecting conversations when conflict or harm arises.
• Foster trust and cohesion across campus by using dialogue-based engagement to deepen connection, belonging, and collaboration among students, faculty, and staff.

Presenter

Farzana Nayani is a recognized People & Culture specialist, executive coach, and keynote speaker.
Click here for full bio.