✓ Analog and digital tools
✓ Over 30 years of experience in conflict resolution
✓ Free empathy guide
Conflict resolution tools work when they help people move from reactive positions to honest, needs-based dialogue. The Empathy Set was built by John Ford, a practitioner who spent 30 years resolving conflict as an attorney, workplace mediator, and divorce mediator before creating tools that actually work in the room where conflict happens. Anyone who has watched a difficult conversation spiral into blame understands why conflict resolution tools need to do more than encourage better listening. Over three decades of real mediation practice shaped every product in our suite, from the original feelings and needs cards to the digital app that puts the same framework in your pocket.
Our Products
"Empathy is demonstrating an understanding of another's feelings and needs." Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication
What it is
The Empathy Set® is two decks in one: 56 feelings cards and 56 needs cards. Spread them in front of you, and they help you find what you're actually feeling, name what you need underneath it, and find the words to say both in a way the other person can hear.
That sounds simple, and it is. But it works on something most of us were never taught. When something matters and we don't have the words for it, we either go quiet or we say it in a way that makes things worse. The cards give you the language in between, so you can speak honestly and keep the relationship intact.
They work on your own, when you're trying to understand your own reaction before a hard conversation. They work between two people, when you each need to be understood before anything can move. And once both sets of needs are on the table, they help you find a solution that meets them, rather than a compromise that meets neither.
Who it's for
Anyone who has ever had something important to say and not known how to say it well. That's most of us, most of the time.
At home, the cards help you understand what you and the people closest to you are feeling and needing, with a parent, a partner, a sibling, or a child. At work, they help you prepare for the conversation you've been putting off, with a manager, a colleague, or someone who reports to you. And in the hands of mediators, facilitators, therapists, trainers, and workshop leaders, they become a flexible tool for helping other people find their own words.
What you get
112 cards, 56 feelings and 56 needs, with a guide to using them on your own, with another person, and with a team.
SHIPPING: A $7.00 shipping fee applies. Orders ship via UPS Ground or USPS, with a tracking number provided.
What a talking stick does
A talking stick is a simple tool for the part of conversation most of us skip: real listening. Whoever holds it has the floor, and everyone else listens, not waiting for a turn to argue, but asking questions and reflecting back until the speaker feels genuinely understood. Only then does the stick pass on. It slows a conversation just enough for people to actually hear each other, and it works whether or not anyone in the room is a trained facilitator. People use them in couples conversations, family meetings, classrooms, teams, and mediation.
About this one
The Zulu Beaded Talking Stick is shaped like a microphone, which is fitting, since a microphone does the same job: whoever holds it speaks. The stem is turned from wood on a lathe, so the length and taper are consistent. The beadwork is done by a team of Zulu women in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, through a partnership with Africa Smiles, an organization that makes handmade work while supporting a sustainable income for the crafters and their families. Each stick carries the work of the hands that made it.
What you get
One beaded talking stick, with a protective pouch and instructions for use on your own or in a group.
SHIPPING: A $7.00 shipping fee applies. Orders ship via UPS Ground or USPS, with a tracking number provided.
What a talking stick does
A talking stick is a simple tool for the part of conversation most of us skip: real listening. Whoever holds it has the floor, and everyone else listens, not waiting for a turn to argue, but asking questions and reflecting back until the speaker feels genuinely understood. Only then does the stick pass on. It slows a conversation just enough for people to actually hear each other, and it works whether or not anyone in the room is a trained facilitator. People use them in couples conversations, family meetings, classrooms, teams, and mediation.
About this one
The Giraffe NVC Talking Stick is carved in Malawi from ebony, each one unique, between seven and eight inches long, with a giraffe at the top. The giraffe is the emblem of Nonviolent Communication: Marshall Rosenberg chose it because it's the land animal with the largest heart, a reminder to speak and listen from the heart. It's a small stick for an intimate setting, well suited to a delicate conversation with someone who matters to you.
What you get
One ebony talking stick, with a protective pouch and instructions.
SHIPPING: A $7.00 shipping fee applies. Orders ship via UPS Ground or USPS, with a tracking number provided.
What Conflict Resolution Tools Do We Offer?
The best conflict resolution tools, in any setting, help users identify the feelings and needs underneath the surface dispute before a word is spoken to the other person. Our empathy tools give individuals, couples, and workplace teams a complete framework for navigating conflict without judgment or escalation. The 56 feelings cards and 56 needs cards in our empathy cards deck help users sort through what they are actually experiencing before they try to express it. Our emotional dictionary extends that process with definitions and synonyms for 108 feelings and needs, expanding the vocabulary people use to name their inner experience with precision. Most people entering conflict do not lack goodwill, but rather the precise language to express what they feel and need without it landing as an attack. Our app brings the full framework to any device, making the process of identifying feelings and needs available anywhere a difficult conversation is about to happen.
Discover our tools and communicate with clarity
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Use Resolutions Tools Today
Thirty years of workplace mediation and divorce resolution shaped every one of our conflict resolution tools. People who use structured dialogue consistently report that the shift is not just in how they communicate but in how quickly they recover when a conversation goes sideways. Structured, turn-based dialogue becomes possible when both people have something concrete to hold, which is exactly what our talking sticks provide as a physical symbol of whose turn it is to speak and be heard. Discover our tools alongside a free empathy guide and start building the skills that keep hard conversations from becoming permanent damage.