SLIDE ONE

SNAP Into It! 

Strengthen Resilience During Conflict Using the Mindful SNAP BCtm Method

 

BY Prof. Phillis Morgan, J.D.

Owner, resilient at work

FOR INTERAGENCY DISPUTE RESOLUTION WORKING GROUP

DECEMBER 6, 2018, 12:00 – 1:30

SLIDE TWO

Agenda

Let’s look at emotions: a missing puzzle piece to effective conflict management

What is mindfulness? What is the science behind it, and what are its benefits?

What is the “SNAP BC” approach? How does it help to reduce conflict?

Who practices mindfulness? What case studies can help increase understanding of the benefits 

of mindfulness?

SLIDE THREE

Images showing CONFLICT

SLIDE FOUR

Did You Know?

Top Two Causes Of Workplace Conflict:

Personality clashes/warring egos (49%) and Stress (34%)

SLIDE FIVE

You got me feeling emotions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrJEFrth27Q

SLIDE SIX

Emotions: the missing piece of the conflict puzzle

SLIDE SEVEN

Emotions

Traditional View

• Sees a classification of “basic emotions”

• Antithesis of reason

• Should be ignored or contained 

• Slow action

• Uncomfortable to deal with in the workplace 

• Largely neglected in research literature

Emerging perspective

• Multi-layered approach

• Emotionality and rationality are interdependent

• Provide vital feedback; necessary in building the trust

• Motivates action

• The expression of emotions in a healthy form is to be recognized and allowed 

• Increasing area of research interest

SLIDE EIGHT

Costs of poorly managing emotions in conflict

Mindset 

• Emotions in conflict are destructive 

• Emotions in conflict are distracting

• Emotions in conflict are for wimps 

• Emotions in conflict are to be feared, avoided

Behavior

• “Last straw” behavior

• Fractured teams

• Retaliatory behavior
• Reactive, “mindless” behavior

• Complaints, lawsuits

• Reduced productivity

• Decreased morale

• Psychological distress

SLIDE NINE

Why Emotions Can Be So Scary

SLIDE TEN

Amygdala Hijack: Your Brain in Conflict

Emotional response to a stimulus that is: 

• Immediate 

• Overwhelming 

• Disproportionate to the actual stimulus 

Why? 

• Because it has triggered a much more significant emotional threat

SLIDE ELEVEN

How mindfulness helps with the emotional, cognitive and physiological responses to conflict

• Neuroplastic Brain

• Directed Mind Training

• Interrupts mindlessness and mindless patterns

• Arrests reactivity

• Promotes mindfulness

• Calms the amygdala

• Calms the nervous system

• Creates mental space

SLIDE TWELVE

Less of this
Image of a person looking frustrated

SLIDE THIRTEEN

More of this

Image of a person looking happy

SLIDE FOURTEEN

The Science

Mindfulness Research Publications (Pub Med)

SLIDE FIFTEEN

Conventional Belief: Brain is Fixed by Adulthood

• Immutable

• Hardwired

• Fixed in form and function

SLIDE SIXTEEN

CONTEMPORARY VIEW: BRAIN NEUROPLASTICITY

Brain has ability to change its structure and function in response to experience and even 

thought

Image of the brain

SLIDE SEVENTEEN

BRAIN TRAINING WITH MEDITATION PRODUCES LARGER AND DENSER NEURAL MASS

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (behind the brain’s frontal lobe)

• Associated with self-regulatory processes, such as ability to monitor attention 

conflicts, and allow for more cognitive flexibility

Prefrontal cortex (the cerebral cortex covering the front part of the frontal lobe)
• Primarily responsible for executive functioning such as planning, problem 

solving, and emotion regulation

Hippocampus (part of limbic system governing learning and memory)

• Highly susceptible to stress and stress-related disorders like depression or PTSD

SLIDE EIGHTEEN

BRAIN TRAINING WITH MEDITATION STRENGTHENS HELPFUL NEURAL CONNECTIONS AND 

WEAKENS UNHELPFUL ONES

• Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DPC) = self-referencing center; i.e., it’s all about me

• Can train to strengthen neural connections between beneficial aspects of the DPC and 

those involved in empathy

• By meditating on compassion, brain regions that keep track of what is “self” and what is 

“other” become quieter, as if the meditators opened their minds and hearts to others

SLIDE NINETEEN

What Mindfulness Is

• A state of mind, a skill, a way of being

• A way of paying attention to what arises in one’s inner and outer world 

• Paying attention in an open way without criticizing, editorializing, judging, shaming or 

blaming

• Mindfulness training helps cultivate that state of mind, skill and way of being

SLIDE TWENTY

Look Who Practices Mindfulness

• Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; numerous federal and state judges 

• Employees: Google, Dow Chemical, Aetna Life Ins., The Nature Conservancy, EnPro 

Industries, SAP, Lululemon, SweetGreen, Apple, Yahoo, Proctor & Gamble, Nike, 

Blackrock, Latham & Watkins law firm, Ersnt & Young, The Humane Society of the US, 

Deutsche Telekom, UVA School of Nursing, DHS, GSA

• Veterans Affairs: “mindfulness coach” app to help veterans 
• Law students: the University of Colorado, University of Denver, George Washington, 

Georgetown, Harvard, Brooklyn Law School

• Elementary and high school students: Montgomery County, Howard County, Baltimore 

County, Fairfax County Public Schools

• Elite athletes: LeBron James, Derek Jeter, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, of the 

Seattle Seahawks football players, Kobe Bryant

• Celebrities: Oprah, Steve Jobs (died 2011), Arianna Huffington, Jerry Seinfeld, Russell 

Simmons, Richard Gere

SLIDE TWENTY ONE

Case Study UK Gov’t, Dept. of Health (% improvements)

1. Thinking more clearly: 21%

2. Less stressed at work: 25%

3. Self-awareness/awareness of others: 30%

4. Sleep: 25%

SLIDE TWENTY TWO

S.N.A.P. INTO IT. 

Stop avoiding and mindlessly reacting. Start responding with wisdom and courage. 

Mindfulness

• Seeing

• Naming

• Accepting

• Pausing

• Breathing

• Choosing

SLIDE TWENTY THREE

Reduce Conflict With The “SNAP BC”TM Approach

• See it: conflict as it arises

• Name it: emotions, thoughts, sensations
• Accept it: whatever arises, without running away

• Pause it: stop your action momentarily

• Breathe: deeply

• Choose it: a wiser course of action

SLIDE TWENTY FOUR

What Mindfulness Is (“See It”)

• A state of mind, a skill, a way of being

• A way of paying attention to what arises in one’s inner and outer world 

• Paying attention in an open way without criticizing, editorializing, judging, shaming or 

blaming

• Mindfulness training helps cultivate that state of mind 

SLIDE TWENTY FIVE

“Name It”

What to Name: 

• Thoughts

• Feelings (emotions)

• Bodily sensations

What it Does: 

• Tames the amygdala

• Interrupts mindlessness

• Reinforces mindfulness

• Helps to identify patterns

SLIDE TWENTY SIX

“Accept It”

Acceptance is the mental quality of being with an experience without resistance
SLIDE TWENTY SEVEN

“Pause It”

Pausing:

• Interrupts patterns

• Arrests reactivity

• Creates mental space

SLIDE TWENTY EIGHT

B R E A T H E

• Deep Breathing:

• Involves parasympathetic nervous system

• Activates vagus nerve

• Calms amygdala

• Calms nervous system

SLIDE TWENTY NINE

“Choose It”

• Make wiser choices

• Access well of natural wisdom 

• Choose in accordance with your values, principles

SLIDE THIRTY 

“The business case for mindfulness is as clear as it for employee wellness. Soon, workers’ access 

to mindfulness training will be as common as it is for physical fitness training.” 

Phillis Morgan, veteran employment lawyer, business professor and mindfulness business 

consultant
“Mindfulness will become as normal as sports, or jogging”

Peter Bostlemann, Founder & Director of SAP's Global Mindfulness Practice

SLIDE THIRTY ONE

• DEVELOPING MINDFULNESS: INDIVIDUALLY, ORGANIZATIONALLY

What Is My Homework?

• HOW CAN I INTRODUCE IT TO MY ORGANIZATION? WHAT ARE NEXT STEPS?

• WHAT LANGUAGE TO USE? 

• WHERE, ORGANIZATIONALLY, WOULD THIS FIT?

• HOW CAN WE BEST CONNECT IT TO OUR MISSION, OBJECTIVES?

SLIDE THIRTY TWO

MUCH GRATITUDE TO EACH OF YOU

MAY YOU BE SAFE, 

MAY YOU BE HAPPY, 

MAY YOU BE HEALTHY, 

MAY YOU BE AT EASE

SLIDE THIRTY THREE

SNAP Into It! 

Strengthen Resilience During Conflict Using the Mindful SNAP BCtm Method

Prof. Phillis Morgan, J.D.

Owner, resilient at work

www.resilientatwork.com

800.454.0021

phillis@resilientatwork.com