A summary of research by Bonnell, Li and van Lingen (2017)

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Summary in short:

NVC and Communication in Organisations

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) has the potential to have a positive effect on all communication dynamics tested. An emphasis on listening to others and expressing oneself honestly in a concise language brings greater trust, greater understanding and also progress in work related and relational issues. Specifically, by focusing on individual’s feelings and needs, conversations can be held in new ways and on topics that would not have been communicated before. Organisations are cautioned to understand that it takes time and practice for individuals to become familiar with NVC.

NVC and the Adaptive Capacity of Organisations

Adaptive Capacity Adaptive capacity (AC) is a concept to describe the resilience of ‘social systems’ – whether a team, an organisation, a city and so on – and it is the framework through which we sought to understand NVC’s potential overall significance. The more AC the more a system can deal with change and be resilient. Change affecting organisations can be sudden or predictable and more or less severe. It can come from a change in the external market conditions, a conflict within a team, a change of organisational policy, a change of team-members, etc. Adaptive Capacity is supported by appropriately developing and using 5 elements: Learning, Trust, Diversity, Common meaning and Self-organization (for more information see Missimer et al. (2017)).