AIM : TO ENABLE PARTICIPANTS TO EXPERIENCE THEIR OWN AND OTHERS FEELINGS AND BEHAVIOURS IN AND AROUND CONFLICT AND TO DISCOVER HOW TO ESTABLISH AN EMPATHIC RAPPORT WHEREBY A MUTUAL TRUST AND SUPPORT IS CREATED.

By the end of the workshop participants will have insight and understanding into the following areas :

How conflict develops
Creating safe environments where conflict can be explored
Understanding how escalation can be destructive and learning how to defuse tricky situations
How conflict resolution is relevant to the business environment
Develop a set of skills to understand the broader picture, before communication breaks down
Reaching consensus in the resolution of conflict
Creative thinking in dealing with conflict
Developing and honing feedback skills

Map of Conflict

STEP 1 – DISCOMFORT
Action – Nothing.
Progresses to Stage 2 or Relationship dissolves

Antidote – First noticing and then tracking the discomfort and seeing how much is directly related to the other person and how much is your own “stuff”. Once you are clear have a dialogue with the other, owning your own bits.

STEP 2 – BACKBITING/SNIPING
By this stage you are already making the other wrong and testing the waters to see if others agree with you. The conflict becomes more overt and more difficult to resolve as hurt feelings start to entrench.

Antidote – Be as honest as you can with others and genuinely seek support to find clarity rather than trash the other.

STEP 3 – GATHERING ALLIES
At this juncture you are preparing for battle. You are convinced of your rightness and are not looking for a win/win result. If your opponent is as unconscious of the undertones as you, he/she will be doing the same and battle lines are being drawn up.

Antidote – Find a way of letting the other know how hurt you are. find a trusted neutral person and have a meeting to clear the air.

STEP 4 – PREPARATION FOR WAR
The time for talking has passed and there is no turning back. Your goal is to win at whatever cost. Allies are being wooed.

STEP 5 – INTO BATTLE.
There are only three possibilities here: – truce, annihilation or transformation

TRUCE
Often an uneasy state where neither party can win and both recognise that. However the trust will often be fatally damaged.

ANNIHILATION
If you are going to win come what may your opponent needs to be wiped off the face of the map – divorce, fired, humiliated etc. The problem is that you create permanent enmity and hatred.

TRANSFORMATION
Whole situation dissolves and transformed