Meeting with George Kohlrieser, a specialist in crisis negotiation
One of the areas of work of the Education and Research Institute of Communications of West Ukrainian National University is to establish cooperation with the world's leading experts in the field of negotiation and mediation. Recently, Oksana Koval, Director of the Institute, together with Anastasia Martynevych, Coordinator of International Activities, had the great pleasure of talking to a true legend in the field of negotiation, Professor George Kohlrieser (Switzerland).
George Kohlrieser is a distinguished professor of leadership and organisational behaviour. He is an organisational and clinical psychologist, hostage negotiator, award-winning consultant, conference speaker and media commentator. His research, teaching and consulting activities focus on high performance leadership, high performance teamwork, conflict management, change management, dialogue and negotiation, coaching, stress management, work-life balance, and personal and professional development.
Mr Kohlrieser received his doctorate from The Ohio State University, where he wrote his dissertation on the cardiovascular recovery of law enforcement leaders after high-stress situations. His research has contributed significantly to the understanding of the role of self-control and social dialogue in maintaining high performance in leaders.
He has worked with the Dayton Police Department in Ohio to reduce homicides in domestic violence situations; taught hostage negotiation techniques at the Dayton Police Academy; and worked in a psychiatric hospital training mental health professionals on how to work with chronic schizophrenic patients; worked with police, military and humanitarian organisations in hotspots such as Israel, the Palestinian territories and Croatia, as well as with police departments and police academies around the world; taught crisis management and hostage negotiation at the FBI, Los Angeles Police and Sheriff's Departments, the High Command Academy in France and police academies in the Netherlands and Germany.
Professor Kohlrieser expressed his support for Ukraine. The parties agreed on further steps in the partnership, prof. Kohlrieser's participation in the events organized by the WUNU Institute of Communications, lectures for students of the Psychology of Negotiation and Mediation programme and police officers in frontline cities.