Avoiding Workplace Conflict

Conflict can be immensely costly to organisations, damaging to relationships and disastrous for productivity. It might be an argument between a line manager and a member of their team, a personality clash between colleagues or even a power dispute between different departments in an organisation. Wherever it manifests itself, conflict is a major cause of stress in the workplace and it can lead to long-standing grievances, factionalism and absenteeism. Being able to handle conflict effectively, whatever the situation, is a skill that will help you to build strong, constructive working relationships and improve the overall performance of your organisation. Featuring dramatized scenarios and analysis from psychotherapist and mediator Barry Winbolt, this short course looks at the causes and patterns of conflict and provides a comprehensive toolkit for achieving positive outcomes.

Learning objectives:

• Explain why conflict develops and how it escalates
• Appreciate the importance of interests and positions
• Explain the need to separate people from problems
• List the key communication skills for conflict resolution
• De-escalate conflict and embed new approaches to prevent it recurring