Welcome to Inclusion Bites, your sanctuary for bold conversations that spark change. I'm Joanne Lockwood, your guide on this journey of exploration into the heart of inclusion, belonging, and societal transformation. Ever wondered what it truly takes to create a world where everyone not only belongs but thrives, you're not alone. Join me as we uncover the unseen, challenge the status quo, and share stories that resonate deep within. Ready to dive in. Whether you're sipping your morning coffee or winding down after a long day, let's connect, reflect, and inspire action together. Don't forget, you can be part of the conversation too. Reach out to jo.lochwood@seechangehappen.co.uk to share your insights or to join me on the show.

So just your earbuds and settle in. It's time to ignite the spark of inclusion with Inclusion Bites. And today is episode 133 with the title, from conflict to compassion. And I have the absolute honor and privilege to welcome Maria Arba. Maria is a workplace culture innovator and conflict resolution expert. When I asked Maria to describe her superpower, she said that is she is able to help people find healing for themselves even when people believe they have tried everything. Hello, Maria. Welcome to the show.

Hi, Jo. It's great to be back here.

Back here again. Yeah. Yeah. We had a challenge last time. We we had a fantastic conversation for an hour, 2 takes, and neither recorded properly. And I was absolutely devastated because it was, as I remember remarking at the end of it, one of the best podcast recordings I've I've ever made, and I was really looking forward to listening to it back. And I didn't have it. Scream for your back.

Yes. Well, that's a challenge, isn't it? Can we I mean, is it that we're meant destined to have another conversation to go even deeper? You know?

I I think I think most definitely because, the the conversation last time was so fascinating. I wanted to have another conversation with you. So it's I think it was a bit like a karma kicking in saying, well, you 2 are destined to have another conversation. So this is it. This is it. And this I'm I'm sure we'll have more conversations after this as well.

Yeah. It's a joy to be invited. Thank you.

And thank you for coming back. So, Maria, for conflict to compassion, tell me more about the work you do.

Thank you. Yes. So I work wherever people gather, and so in workplaces is a particular interest of mine, and places of community and family and, you know, all sorts of places where people gather, there are going to be tensions and disagreements and inability to trust things that pop up that were not expected, you know, expected and unexpected disagreements. And what I've learned is that we can treat those conflicts and those disagreements and those tensions actually is an amazing resource for us to find a way to become authentic, to navigate into our common humanity, and to be our most creative. Whereas most of what we've been taught is that the minute tensions arise and the minute we disagree, we're frightened of the pain so we can become either conflict avoidant or use a sledgehammer to crack a nut and and divide and separate and then go into kind of legal processes or, you know, processes that are destined maybe to get some kind of a re result, but definitely not healing and compassion and care for our humanity.

A bit of retribution, bit of payback, bit of you've you've offended me or you've cast dispersions on my credibility, and I want to make you pay for that. Is is that kinda how people escalate?