Do you need help managing
conflict in the workplace?
Find support here with:
Mediation | Conflict Coaching | Resolution
Do you find change a challenge?
How can conflict coaching help you?
Facilitating difficult conversations
Disputes and interpersonal conflict at work are costly. They take up time, contribute to poor levels of mental health, make other team members feel uncomfortable, which lead to toxic work environments, poor communication, relationship breakdowns, and a loss of productivity.
There are three main areas in which we can help you to get your staff functioning and working well:
Conflict Coaching
Conflict coaching involves a member of staff taking part in 1 on 1 structured conversation within the confines of a psychologically safe environment to help them assess where they are in relation to conflict, set realistic improvement goals and agree what they need to do to move forward.
​
​
Challenging Conversations
Managing difficult conversations requires specific skills and emotional intelligence. It also requires an understanding of the context in which the conversation has arisen, and knowledge of the communication process that needs to be followed, if it is to be successful. RESOLVE is a model and a methodology for addressing difficult work-based conflicts.
​
I wonder why are you here?
You are either involved in a workplace situation where there is a difference of opinion, a disagreement, or what could be called a conflict of some description - not everyone likes that word. Alternatively, you may have been tasked with arranging a mediation for two or more members of staff.
In addition to my role as as mediator, I work as a conflict coach and support Stephen Covey's notion, that is one of his 7 habits, of always begin with the end in mind.
Imagine that in terms of the outcome you are looking for, you want to maintain the integrity of the relationship; it's well documented that when relationships break down, clear, open, honest communication is the first casualty, hotly followed by a loss of trust, both of which mean the work no longer flows as it should, problems do not get solved, deadlines get missed, everyone gets frustrated and customers or service users being to lose faith in you as an organisation.
​
It is never just the relationship between the two parties that is affected. Disputes and conflicts also have the potential to escalate, which means that others get drawn into the situation, camps being to build, and time and resources get diverted away from the work in hand. All of which costs in terms of time and money.
​
I don't know where you are in the decision making process about whether to engage with a mediator: in my experience, managers often sit on the situation for a while, hoping it will resolve itself, or the people will simply move on.
​
If I had payment for every time I had heard within a mediation context, 'we should have done this sooner', I would be very wealthy. Hoping things will improve is one strategy, and it is risky. The longer the situation goes on the more entrenched the parties become - if they had the conflict resolution skills to solve the problem, they would have done so and you would not be reading this page. But you are, so the clock is ticking. Deep seated and well entrenched views can be hard to change, and there is always the risk that one of the parties will leave. Replacing all that time served experience, losing all that knowledge of the role, the networks that person had established runs into thousands of pounds, dollars or Euros, It is expensive.
You may argue that mediation is a risk and that nothing is guaranteed. But this might be your challenge..
..since you may not have experienced mediation and may not know that it is highly likely, between 70-90%, to do exactly what it says it will do, which is to resolve differences between two parties.
​
The definition of success is interesting since in my experience parties learn so much from the process, skills which they can take back and use in the workplace.
​
I have never know a mediation make a situation worse.
Working in a non-judgemental, impartial and neutral environment is incredibly liberating: this is something that managers in organisations who try to intervene will always find it hard to create: they will invariably be seen as belonging to one side or the other.
​
Building a bridge of trust and openness with a mediator ensures the obvious issues are addressed, and also those other wider aspects of the conflict that probably contributed to the problem arising in the first place.
​
Personal chemistry is so important in this process.
​
If anything about what I have said has moved your thinking forward and you would like to explore the process in more detail, or understand how the process could work for you, please reach out and we will set up a call. I always offer a free initial scoping conversation which helps people decide when and how to use mediation within their organisation.
