Awhile back I asked people in a survey about how they describe what’s happening when they’re in real disagreements. For those of you reading this because you took it, thank you so much!

If you haven’t taken it, I’ll leave it up for awhile. Here’s the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=HWpdZ_2fdo_2fpeyVctrGSBE9A_3d_3d.

The results are in the post below. But first, why a survey? Why ask people how they think about their disagreements?

Because lawyers talk funny. Everyone knows that. But lawyer-talk is part of the popular culture through TV and literature, so we sort of understand them.

Dispute resolution professionals talk even funnier. And the general public doesn’t have much exposure to these people. They sound just plain weird. As Steve Martin once said about the French, “it’s like they have a different word for everything!”

I did this survey to reground myself in the language of real people, as they really are, when they are in the middle of real disputes.

I really, really need to understand and to speak the language of real people in a way that is real to them when I’m marketing my services. I’m not there to see how my words are working and how people react to them. I can’t see it when they read my website and wince. I need the kind of information this survey provides to be able to describe what I do, how I do it, and when I might be able to help.

So – to the heart of it – what did we learn? Keep reading or click here …

This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 2:55 pm and is filed under Conflict, Data. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.