ABOUT
Our Vision
We envision a world where authentic relationships serve as the foundation for moral life, inspiring individuals to see themselves through their connections with others, and where societal challenges are met with empathy, understanding, and collective action toward a more harmonious and just society.
Our Mission
Common Ground Institute teaches individuals, couples, organizations, and communities how to resolve conflict, find purpose, and meet their personal and collective goals through deep collaboration. We seek to foster a relational understanding of human existence that nurtures moral interconnection, promotes collaborative problem-solving, and recognizes our mutual dependence. We seek to transcend divisions of radical individualism and collectivism to create a more unified and compassionate society.
About Us
We want to transform how people relate to each other.
As a society, we are not handling conflict well. Politically, we are polarized. Organizations are hierarchical and siloed. Schools are ridden with conflict between and among students, teachers and parents. Ordinary people struggle to find meaning and fulfillment in their relationships and lives. The inability to handle conflict is the single biggest threat to lasting relationships — in couples, in organizations, in schools, as well as within and between nations.
In a disagreement, people tend to take sides. They take positions. They fight. They debate. They argue. Debates tend to go back and forth between point and counterpoint. No one tends to change their mind in an argument or debate. There are better ways.
Behind each person’s position in a dispute is a problem the person is trying to solve. They have some sort of unmet need that they are trying to meet. As a result, they are suffering in some way. They are experiencing some form of pain. No matter what you think of the other person’s position, just like you, they are fighting a great battle.
To resolve a conflict with someone, don’t vilify them — just as you don’t want them to vilify you. Instead, make contact with each other’s humanity. Seek to understand your own unmet needs and their unmet needs. Understand that you are both suffering. Understand their pain as well as your own.
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More often than not, when you do this, you will find that it is possible to meet both your needs and the other’s needs at the same time. It doesn’t have to be me versus you or us versus them. It can be me and you against the problems we are facing. And once that happens, people can begin to solve problems collaboratively
And that’s where Common Ground Institute comes in. We know how to resolve conflict and are committed to promoting dialogue in order to build stronger more resilient communities through education, mediation, coaching, and advocacy. Our mission is to foster relational understanding that nurtures interconnection, promotes collaborative problem-solving, and recognizes our mutual dependence.
Common Ground Institute (CGI) is a national nonprofit (501c3) organization founded in 2021 to help bridge interpersonal, social, and political divides, and create a more unified and compassionate society. CGI seeks to address the critical need for fostering understanding, collaboration, and unity among diverse groups in an increasingly complex and polarized society. In a world marked by cultural, ideological, and socio-economic differences, misunderstandings and miscommunications often lead to conflict, division, and social fragmentation. This impedes efforts to solve pressing global issues such as inequality, climate change, social injustice, and political instability.
Collaboration is the path. Shared humanity is the goal.
Core Principles & Values
We hold the following core principles and values, which are always evolving and under development:
Relationalism
We reject both radical individualism and collectivism. Instead, we believe that persons are simultaneously individual and relational beings. We develop who we are through our relationships with others. Although we must ultimately create who we are for ourelves, we never create who we are by ourselves.
Collaborative Problem-Solving
Every conflict is an occasion for shared problem solving. Instead of debating positions on an issue, we teach people how to identify the human needs, interests and concerns that motivate people to take different positions. When that happens, people resolve conflict by creating new ways to meet their unmet needs.
Openness and Empathy
People long to be heard. In a dispute, empathy disarms. We show people how to promote shared understanding through active and empathic listening. The best way to get your partner to listen to you is to listen closely to them — with empathy, curiosity and compassion.
Purpose-Driven Self-Cultivation
Many of the problems that we have in life — anxiety, depression, the crisis of meaning — are not simply mental health problems. Instead, they are problems of purpose. Purpose gives life meaning. To live a good life, cultivate mindfulness and moral purpose in your everyday experiences. We’ll show you how.
CGI Board of Directors
CGI Board of Advisors
- Michael Basseches, Ph.D.
- Alicia Diozzi, M.Ed.
- Nira Granott, Ph.D.
- Kim Niemi
- Mary McCartney, M.S.
- Tracy McCubbin, M.Ed.
- Iris Stammberger, Ph.D.
- Yvonne Wells, Ph.D.
- John Wergin, Ph.D.