We are passionate about helping workplaces clearly identify conflicts and find strategies that include everyone’s needs.  Giraffe Ears™ is a donation funded not-for-profit organization that teaches Safety Based Communication (SBC). We provide workplaces who are partnered with Giraffe Ears™ with an in-house training period followed by nonlocal resources for staff navigating a potential conflict. SBC is rooted in the concepts of Nonviolent Communication and Restorative Justice but has been adapted to better address the specific needs of a workplace environment. We believe that businesses, and the humans within them, prosper when equipped to identify and share their needs in a way that does not involve criticizing themselves or others. Our society educates us to blame one another for our present pain but often in so doing we fail to give everyone’s needs a seat at the table. When we are wearing Giraffe Ears™ we can hear that all criticism is actually a tragic expression of an unmet need. Giraffes have the largest heart of any land animal, they have the best view of the horizon and, sleeping less than thirty minutes a day, they are always aware of their environment. SBC allows staff to clearly identify conflicts and find new strategies that include everyone’s needs.

Our requests of you:

• Empower our team to meet privately with each staff member on-site during a work shift. (1hr each)
• Host concluding practice staff meeting. (1hr)
• Encourage staff to work with us confidentially when anticipating a difficult conversation.
• [Optional] Schedule staff introductory presentation (1hr)
• [Optional] Schedule regular check-ins with our team for sustained success.

Partnering with Giraffe Ears™ is not only a way to work more efficiently as a team, but it also demonstrates your commitment to care for mental health in the workplace. The protection of one’s mental health at work has no meaningful analog to the way we protect our physical health. OSHA was created as a direct response to rising injuries occurring on the job in the 1960’s and 70’s yet as America’s mental health crisis continues to worsen, we have done embarrassingly little to respond to it. Unlike OSHA, Safety Based Communication(SBC) is not about creating more red tape. On the contrary, you will learn that true conflict resolution often requires solutions unique to individual conflicts and workspaces. Despite regularly asking staff to share feedback or opportunities, managers often receive only a shrug or a quiet thumbs-up. Only to find staff resigning days later, citing the hostile work environment and management as key factors in their decision. SBC is designed to address exactly this perceived paradox. By learning to speak vulnerably from our shared set of universal basic human needs we position one another not only to safely share our true experiences but also to respond with compassion more easily; qualities that make finding a life-giving solution much more likely.

If you are interested in partnering with us or just want to learn more about what we do please do not hesitate to contact us. I would be truly honored to begin with an introductory conversation in as brief as fifteen minutes over coffee or video chat!

Thank you so much for your time!

Sincerely,

Nathanael Walsh