Thomas Kuevi
Thomas Kuevi is the founder of Verbal Resolutions, a specialist in workplace conflict resolution with a background in mediation, coaching, and organisational development. Through h...
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Who are you?
I am Thomas aka Quay. I am head of resolutions at Verbal Resolutions. I'm very passionate about mediation, both in my working life, but also in my personal life, addressing conflict and helping people overcome issues, which lead to frustration is something that I really enjoy being able to do, and I feel blessed that I have a skillset which allows me to do that, to listen to people, to hear them. I do so with my children as well. I think conflict resolution skills amongst children is really, really important actually, because I think a lot of these skills are skills that if you develop when you are younger, you'll start to use them innately. You'll use them subconsciously. It makes you want to understand more, and that's why I'm so passionate about it. Outside of mediation, I enjoy football. I coach under nines and under eights football. And again, I try and be a role model, try and be an example, and try and use football in a lot of instances to instil hard work, discipline, good values amongst the younger generation. And yeah, so really proud of that and proud of the work I do as well. And I think it's a great thing to be excited about the work you do and the things you are doing. And it's really rewarding, particularly at the end of a mediation, to see two people who've perhaps come in and not been getting on or not understood each other. And then to see them on the reverse side of that, walk out of the room together, perhaps share a hug, sometimes, not always, but it's a really rewarding and fulfilling role.
What is your background?
So my background is in criminology and psychology. That's what I studied at university. I graduated for Middlesex University with a two one degree, and then for a few years didn't do much, and probably by the time I reached about 2007, 2008, I started to really focus on what it was. I was actually good at what it is I can do and feel fulfilled in this world doing. And I centred around conflict resolution. Essentially. I took on an internship with an organisation called the PMA Professional Mediators Association, which was closely linked to an organisation called the TCM Group. And after doing an internship for about four months, I was offered a substantive position as a dispute resolution advisor developed so much in that role, started doing things like investigations consulting, HR training, and of course working as a mediator. Really exciting role just from week to week. Could be working in any type of organisation, any type of sector. So I learned so much about, of course, conflict, but what causes conflict in different types of organisation and how that comes about. I've also worked for CMP Solutions, so between the two TCM Group and CMP solutions, they're two of the largest organisations in this field of conflict resolution. So having worked for about 16 years or so across both organisations, I found myself in a place now where I feel ready to kind of launch my own business and really work in conflict resolution in the ways that I want to and try out some creative ideas. Part of that for me is very much, I feel that mediation and conflict resolution being taught in schools is vitally important. I think kids are the future, of course, and they're the next generation. And that skillset of being able to resolve conflict and understand what's needed and required is something that is going to be vital for the future. So essentially, that's where I am now as head of resolutions for verbal resolutions.
What is conflict?
Essentially, I mean, people will often say that conflict is a serious disagreement or dispute between two people, and it certainly can be. But often I like to think about conflict in terms of what it is. Its most fundamental level, and that's most fundamental conflict is an incompatibility between, yes, two people, but it could also be two things. It could be two areas of a business, two departments. There's an incompatibility which needs to be recognised, particularly when we're talking in a business context, because for as long as that compatibility isn't recognised, it's something which could have an impact. Numerous different impacts on the individuals within that business and within the business itself. So conflict for me is purely an incompatibility. What I do is seek to understand where that incompatibility lies.