ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF CONFLICt
Welcome to the School of Conflict!
I’m thrilled you’re here.
My mission is to turn conflict on its head. I want to redefine it as an opportunity that is to be actively welcomed and even sought out in the workplace.
It all started when, in 2014, I began running team-building programmes. We would work on teaming factors like values or mission but something was getting in the way of engagement and sustainable change.
A pattern quickly started to emerge: there are crucial, difficult conversations that every team absolutely needs to have but is avoiding out of fear that conflict of ideas might escalate into interpersonal conflict.
Over and over, I was observing the fact that it’s the conversations people were not having – and, ultimately, conflict avoidance – that were getting in the way.
I quickly realised that day to day conflict is not only natural, inevitable and universal; it is also essential. What’s more, the ability to have conflict is a key trait of peak performing teams and an indispensable individual leadership competency.
At the School of Conflict, we think it’s crazy that conflict has been made into a dirty word. And we intend to change that.
Our mission is to teach teams and their leaders how to have difficult conversations to reach peak performance. We do this through disruptive experiential workshops that create real change.
Here’s to making friends with conflict and discovering the many gifts that it holds!
Julie Leitz
Founder of the School of Conflict®
About julie
Originally from Paris, where I grew up in a French and German multicultural family, I moved to the UK in 2007 to carry out a research study in a science lab at University College London (UCL). I then completed a Masters in Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, published several scientific articles in international, peer-reviewed journals and secured a Wellcome Trust scholarship to pursue a PhD in neuroscience and electrophysiology.
According to my big perfect plan, I had it all. But, deep down, I knew something was missing. I wasn't meant to wear a lab coat for the rest of my life. So I made a bold decision and turned down my promising PhD.
While I loved the intellectual challenge academia provided, it was too removed from working 'hands on' with people. This ultimately led to my work as a coach and consultant.
In 2014, I co-founded Human Centric Leaders, an alliance of world-class facilitators and coaches specialising in experiential workshops for leading organisations across Europe. It is during that time that I discovered that conflict avoidance is preventing teams from performing at their best. In 2018, the School of Conflict was born from my passion to help leaders and their teams create from conflict and harness the potential and power inherent to it. Today, Human Centric Leaders and the School of Conflict work hand in hand to foster top team performance in leading organisations.
I love to challenge existing ways of doing things and bring my scientific and artistic mindset to everything I do. My expertise is in understanding the mechanisms that allow shifts in cognitive and behavioural patterns to facilitate change and transformation.
QUALIFICATIONS AND ACCREDITATIONs
MSc Neuroscience (University of Oxford)
BA Psychology (American University of Paris)
Accredited Mediator (London School of Mediation)
Organisational and Relationship Systems Coaching (CRR Global)
Postgraduate Certificate in the Therapeutic Arts (IATE and University of East London)
Front of the Room Leader with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI)
Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coach Federation
Certified Professional Co-Active® Coach (CPCC) with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI)
Member of the International Coaching Federation
