Conflict management
At Worthwhile we split our conflict training into two distinct areas:
Conflict Avoidance and Conflict Management – for those who face challenging behaviour and possible aggression or violence from the public or your customers.
Managing Difficult Situations and Conflict Resolution – for situations where the conflict arises in-house between colleagues and diverse teams.
Conflict avoidance and confilict management
The number of abusive or aggressive incidents in the workplace is on the increase, as is the level of aggression or violence being used against staff. Many organisations are struggling to manage this, and where collegues do not have the skills or confidence to manage difficult situations, find it is having a detrimental impact on their, wellbeing and productivity.
In 2018, 94.1% of frontline railway staff had experienced work-related violence with 25.6% experiencing Physical Assaults. – Railways Safety and Standards Board (RSSB)
Incidents of violence and abuse against retail workers increased by 50 per cent to 1,300 a day in the year to September 2023. – British Retail Consortium (BRC)
In 2023 it was reported that work-related violence is expected by frontline workers who feel unsafe at the beginning of their shift. – Cambridge University and RDG, 2023
Staff exposed to work-related violence may be 2.3 times more likely to report anxiety, depression, burnout, and psychological distress symptoms. – Rudkjoebing et al., 2020
Poor mental health may cost UK companies up to £56bn per year due to sickness absence, presenteeism, and turnover. – Deloitte, 2021
The risk of work-related aggression may be increased if your colleagues:
- deny or remove services
- fail to meet customer expectations
- work with vulnerable people
- work evenings or weekends
- serve alcohol
- inspect or enforce rules
- lone work
- lack the skills to be able to defuse situations
Our high impact training can help find solutions and provide your collegsue with the skills and confidence to manage their own safety. Our Conflict Management workshops can include:
- A clear understanding of the definition of work-related violence and the individuals’ rights and responsibilities.
- Ways to avoid conflict through safer/good working practices
- An understanding of the causes and triggers of aggression. Looking at human behaviour, the impact of frustration, alcohol, drugs, mental health, etc.
- A simple Dynamic Risk Assessment tool to improve their situational and behavioural awareness to spot and avoid the potential for conflict situations.
- Ways to ensure that colleagues can ‘Respond rather than React’ – strategies to help them remain calm and in control in difficult situations
- Verbal and non-verbal skills to defuse and de-escalate conflict situations that may arise. Specifically, active listening, non-blame language, questioning skills, body language, appropriate assertiveness and calming strategies.
- Non-physical intervention techniques to protect personal space and exits in aggressive situations and help colleagues stay safe.
- Exit strategies and ways to call for back up and support in a safe and professional manner.
- The importance and value of reporting and gaining support post incident.
We always take our time to find out the needs of your organisation and your colleagues and then tailor the workshop content to ensure the most effective content and best value.
Managing difficult situations and conflict resolution
It is not uncommon for colleagues to fall out or find it difficult to deal with challenge. Conflict in the workplace can be healthy, breeding certainty and innovation, but when it is badly handled it can create toxic and unhealthy environments. There are factors that make this more likely:
- New and diverse teams that have not bonded
- Times of change or uncertainty
- Lack of understanding or respect between individuals
- High pressure projects or targets
- Clash of personality ‘types’
- Lack of boundaries or agreed ground rules
- Cultural differences
If your challenges are with conflict within your teams then our Conflict Resolution workshops can include:
- A clear understanding of conflict – its benefits in constructive creative environments and pitfalls if not managed effectively (flourishing versus toxic environments).
- An understanding of the causes and triggers of conflict in teams and amongst individuals. Looking at human behaviour, response to perceived threat, the impact of stress, resilience, culture, etc.
- Practical tools to improve situational and behavioural awareness and promote positive challenge in a constructive way (BOLD Teams).
- Self-awareness, leadership and interpersonal communication skills.
- Skills to resolve conflict situations. Specifically, active listening, non-blame language, questioning skills, body language, appropriate assertiveness and calming strategies (5 C’s of Conflict Resolution and Transactional Analysis).
- Moving forward and leaving the hurt behind.
What our clients say…
Worthwhile Training go out of their way to work with front line colleagues and managers to find and offer workable approaches based on understanding the risk factors associated with different roles. The fact that the team at Worthwhile are known by our colleagues speaks volumes on how closely they work with us.
Head of Security – Great Western Railway
Worthwhile training have provided expert insight, expertise and guidance, which has led to us introducing comprehensive guidance, policies, procedures and suites of conflict avoidance training courses for all employees across the business.
Head of Security – Great Western Railway
The difference that they brought to our training materials and consequently the learning experience for our staff has been huge. Our business can be a frustrating place, Nicole has had the ultimate patience with our company and has been instrumental in providing us with a service that, in my opinion, could not have been delivered by any other provider.
Customer Service Lead Trainer –Company name withheld