Question

Shelly and Brooke were best friends until Shelly started dating Evan. Shelly started ignoring Brooke's phone calls and spent all of her time before and after school with Evan. Brooke was hurt that Shelly forgot her birthday, so she confronted her about it at school. Shelly was not interested in talking with Brooke and turned to walk away from her. Brooke grabbed Shelly's arm, and Shelly turned around and pushed Brooke away. They started shoving each other but were separated by a teacher before things escalated. They have been sent to the office for peer mediation. How would you lead Shelly and Brooke through this difficult situation using the 4Ds of a Difficult Conversation (Define, Defuse, Discuss, and Decide)? Write a three-to-five-sentence summary of the discussion.

Answer 1

Shelly and Brooke can be made to reconcile using the skills of the 4ds.

Explanation:

Using the 4Ds of a Difficult Conversation (Define, Defuse, Discuss, and Decide) is paramount in this discussion.

The real reason is that they are not able to deal with the inclusion of Evans in their dynamic.

So they must acknowledge this fact at first and it would come as the process of being able to define.

Then they must be able to diffuse tension by acknowledging that the presence of Evans is not what is the core of the problem to diffuse the situation.

Then they will discuss what they can do best to curb the communication gap.

Then finally they will decide on the course to take