Work and family conflicts are common and in order to understand the possible causes and how to deal with them, a workshop was organised with Aalto students. The participants used the workshop as an opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas to address these issues through collaborative discussions. Therefore, the workshop enabled the participants to have a range of ways to deal with practical problems which might occur during everybody’s daily life.

The aim of the project was to organise and facilitate an interactive participatory workshop (35 min) to identify possible causes that lead to specifically family and work conflicts selected by the participants and understand how it is possible to react to these situations and have a positive outcome. Participants will be encouraged to perform a conflict and discuss, negotiate and develop a consensus about the possible solutions.

The team prepared the invitation poster for the 13 participants of the workshop. Furthermore, in order to meticulously plan the workshop a facilitation plan and concept note defined the several elements of it. The facilitation plan described a detailed timetable, workflow and the methods and activities used in the workshop: Acting, group discussion, group ideation by writing collaboratively and drawing. The concept note defined the objective, situation, needed material, roles and responsibilities as well as a plan B.

The workshop started with a short introduction to the purpose of the workshop. Then, the participants gathered in groups discussed and prepared a performance about the selected conflict. After acting it out, they gathered ideas about the causes of the conflict and the potential strategies to address the issue and solve or prevent it. The feedback session was facilitated through drawing and food, which plays an important part in the whole workshop.

The workshop contributed to achieve the following outcome: a spreadsheet with ideas about how to deal with work and family conflicts, a summary note on the workshop and related feedbacks, which were generally positive.