Conflict Management
Increasing numbers of people have to deal with difficult people and situations at work. Whilst it is commonplace to face conflict on a regular basis, if the issues are left un-addressed, they are likely to cause severe stress, poor performance, damaged credibility and declining morale for those involved.
Individuals wishing to improve their conflict management skills are often interested in finding ways to:
- Improve their own self-awareness and manage their own reactions to conflict
- Understand the source and nature of difficult situations and conflict
- Choose and implement responses to conflict and difficult/challenging incidents that are likely to resolve the situation
- Deal effectively with all forms of aggression from others
- Preserve and maintain on-going relationships even with people with whom they have been in conflict.
Although it is understandable that many people would wish to avoid conflict at work, without some conflict, the workplace would be a less interesting, dynamic and creative place to be. The negative consequences of conflict do not arise as a result of the conflict itself, but more from the inability of those involved to manage it effectively. This begins with the ability to manage one's own reaction to conflict, and involves an ability to use a facilitative problem-solving approach towards achieving a resolution.
"Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict - alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence" Dorothy Thompson
How to spot effective conflict management
Are the people involved able to:
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Stay objective - not taking disagreements as personal attacks, and keeping the disagreement in perspective?
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Avoid game playing - not entering into competitiveness for the sake of it, or point-scoring as part of unresolved, irrelevant disagreements?
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Stay positive - focused on aiming to reach a win/win resolution, rather than a win-lose situation where only one party wins at the expense of the other?
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Resist trying to change each other - they know this is often futile, not to mention disrespectful. Instead they focus on trying to change the situation?
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Actively listen - paying full attention to each other's verbal and non-verbal communication, clarifying, probing and summarising to check understanding?
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Focus on a conclusion - working towards a clear outcome, including any follow-up interactions that are necessary/desired?
Conflict Management Training from H2
Our conflict mangement training is designed to empower our delegates to become more effective in the face of conflict. We aim to strike a balance between presenting essential background information, and facilitating participative exercises and discussions that are both challenging and motivating, and that enable useful learning to take place that can be directly applied back in the workplace.
We can deliver conflict management training virtually, or at a venue of your choice, for any number of participants.
Ready-to-Go Courses: Over the past 24 years, we've worked hard to devise and develop a range of courses that suit the broad needs of our customers. Ready-to-Go course titles relating to the topic of conflict management include:
- Conflict Management
- Assertive Communication
- Chairing Effective Meetings
- Managing Under Pressure
- Emotional Intelligence at Work
- Dealing with Difficult Relationships at Work
Bespoke Courses: If you have something more specific in mind, we can design and deliver a tailored course for you. Following a short pre-course consultation, we'll put together a course programme that reflects your specified priorities, and that includes exercises based on real-life case studies/scenarios.
One-to-One Training: We also offer conflict management training for those who may benefit from the undivided attention of our trainer. These one-to-one sessions are entirely focused on the specific needs/interests of the delegate, and are extremely well received for achieving lasting learning and observable improvements.
No-obligation Quote
Please CONTACT US today - just give us a brief outline of what you're looking to achieve, the number of participants and the proposed location, and we'll get back to you shortly.