CEO Works Luncheon | Supporting and encouraging productive conflict

Session Description: Conflict is everywhere. Whether you're navigating a strained partnership, a team stuck in silence, or a culture that avoids hard conversations, you’re not alone. In this CEO Circle, Kelsey Manne (Donnellan), Founder of Little Pineapple Collaborative, introduces a framework for supporting and encouraging productive conflict. Productive conflict is a practice-based approach of turning conflict into collaboration by effectively identifying the root challenge, addressing it with intention, and modeling receiving pushback. Participants will leave with skills they can use in their very next team meeting. This session is designed for executives and business owners who are ready to stop managing conflict and start leading through it.

Optional survey: Help inform this session and share your experience with conflict! Complete this optional survey by Friday, June 5. All responses are anonymous.

Presenter Bio: Kelsey Manne (Donnellan) believes that progress happens when we design spaces where everyone feels they belong. This philosophy stems from a lesson her grandmother taught her: always set an extra place at the table and have a little fun while doing it.
As founder of the Little Pineapple Collaborative, Kelsey facilitates organizational change and transformation by creating space for creativity, joy, belonging, and trust so that people can better understand themselves, each other, and the work they do together. Central to that work is a belief that conflict is not something to avoid, but something to lean into; conflict is a form of collaboration that, when held well, moves people and organizations forward.
With over a decade of experience, she has co-led health equity initiatives for U.S. territories and freely associated states, developed specialized vocational training for adults with disabilities, and managed nationwide learning networks focused on dementia and brain health. Kelsey holds a Master of Public Health from the Milken Institute at George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
An avid adventure seeker and dedicated dog parent, Kelsey remains a lifelong learner, currently learning Telugu and how not to catch a wave.

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Host or Publisher Santa Cruz Works