Conflict Resolution Training:

According to a 2024 good work index survey conducted by the CIPD, 25% of the UK workforce have experienced conflict in the last year. For context, that is equivalent to an estimated 8 million people.

Conflict in the workplace presents a number of risks to employers, including increased absenteeism, reduced productivity, costly legal claims, a high turnover of staff and poor staff morale, not to mention the reputational damage.

Worryingly but not surprisingly, the CIPD found that 47% of employees who responded to the survey said that their response to conflict was to simply ‘let it go’, even though many knew this would have a detrimental impact on their health, well being and happiness in the workplace.

For many, conflict resolution can be challenging and perceived as risky. At Donovan Training Associates, we are passionate about supporting people with conflict resolution and equipping them with the skill sets and confidence required to address conflict early, avoiding further escalation and unnecessary stress.

Conflict Resolution Training Tailored Specifically for Your Needs

At Donovan Training Associates, we believe that optimised and effective training cannot be achieved with an off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all solution. As a result, our conflict resolution training is bespoke, tailored to the specific needs of your organisation and the individual delegates.

How Our Conflict Resolution Training Works

Whether you are looking to put measures in place to enable people within your Organisation to manage conflict or you are individually looking for tools to address conflict in a professional way, we can offer a learning solution that is relevant to your needs.

The process begins with a no obligation consultation where we will identify your requirements and learn more about the types of scenarios where conflict resolution will be pertinent to you. We will then prepare a bespoke proposal which we can amend as required to ensure we meet your specific needs.

Many of our clients ask us to facilitate onsite or at a local venue of their choosing but if you prefer to come off site, we can offer facilities in our Oxfordshire offices which are designed to host workshops in a professional and comfortable environment..

Why You or Your People May Need Conflict Resolution Training

To reduce absenteeism and increase productivity
To prevent costly legal claims and unnecessary escalation
To help set a culture that promotes wellbeing and positivity in the workplace
To equip you with the tools and confidence to resolve conflict amicably and professionally
To provide you with tips for delivering challenging messages
Personal and professional development

Conflict Resolution Training Course Outline: An Example

All our training is tailored specifically to you and considers the needs of your organisation and the needs of your people. Where possible, we endeavour to provide examples and scenarios which are relevant to your business and therefore, which your people can relate to.

However, we understand that when comparing learning providers, it is helpful to have a better understanding of their approach and what a typical learning session might look like, and so we have put together the following as an example which we hope you will find useful.

Course Overview

Our conflict resolution training is typically facilitated in either a bite-size group session, or due to the sensitive nature of this topic, on a one-to-one coaching basis. Depending on the number of learners, your location, and demands of the business, training can either be provided:

In-person
Face-to-face via online real-people video training

We also provide customised pre-prepared learning materials, including videos and interactive resources. These are useful for learners to utilise as reminders or to learn in their spare time.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the training, participants will:

Learn about the triggers of conflict and which of these impact them most on an individual basis
Learn about the impact of conflict in the workplace and the dangers of ignoring it
Have clarity on when conflict is healthy and when it is not
Learn how to both prevent and respond to conflict
Have the opportunity to put the learning into practice using relevant case studies or role plays

Course Structure:

This example is based on a half day group-based conflict resolution workshop.

Understanding the common causes and signs of conflict
Understanding why conflict management is important and the consequences of ignoring it
Differentiating between negative and positive conflict
Understanding our own responses to conflict situations and those of others
Using a conflict resolution model and consciously choosing the most appropriate responses
Preventative strategies to reduce conflict
Seeing each situation beyond our own perspective

Certification

If requested, we can offer certificates for our training.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this level of training course. It is suitable for anyone looking to improve their conflict resolution, regardless of their current level of expertise. However, if you have a large number of delegates, you may prefer to create cohorts based on department or staff seniority level so that attendee’s feel more comfortable being open with discussing pain-points and challenges.

Resources:

After the workshop, we will send out resources that are specific to the needs of the audience. Typical examples include links to podcasts, TED talks, books etc.

When suitable, we also embed relevant TED talks into the workbooks that we provide which are all in an interactive PDF format.

To find out more about our bespoke conflict resolution training, please call us on 01295 675506 for a free, no obligation consultation.

If you have any questions or would like an informal chat then please click below.

Make an enquiry

Case Study:

“This was a thought-provoking session and made me step back and perceive conflict from a different perspective. I don’t mind admitting I was dreading attending as I anticipated lots of role play about people shouting at each other, but when we flipped the discussion between negative and positive conflict in the first break out activity, it really opened my eyes and you caught my attention.

Thank you also for doing your research and establishing before the course that the room did not wish to engage in role play (I’m glad it wasn’t just me!) and instead for encouraging us to think of real-life scenarios. I left with lots of ideas which I look forward to start implementing in our next team meeting.”

An email received from Sam Parker, a participant who attended a conflict resolution workshop, London, UK

We were invited to facilitate a bite size session on conflict resolution as part of a ‘national learning at work week’ offering for a client in the finance sector.

The culture in this Organisation was very healthy from a respect perspective and interestingly, the focus of this particular session was on how to create healthy conflict by challenging the status quo and avoid complacency. The mantra of ‘this is the way we have always done it here’ was becoming increasingly familiar and noticeable to people new to the Organisation.

We addressed the distinction between healthy and non-healthy conflict, looked at some ideas of how things could be improved and then worked on some strategies on how to communicate these ideas in a ‘non career limiting way’ to the senior leadership team.

The irony was that the senior leadership team were open to suggestions but there was a perception from the wider team that this was not the case, which was something we were able to feed back in the post workshop debrief.

Why Choose Donovan Training Associates?

We are MCIPD (Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development) Certified
All training is tailored to the specific needs of your organisation, ensuring you get the best ROI possible
We are passionate about making training enjoyable, rewarding and relatable so that your staff appreciate the investment you’ve made in them, and can see the benefit to them as an individual
Whilst we are based in Oxfordshire, we provide professional training to organisations both here in the UK, and overseas.

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Related Resources

11 February 2016