Working It Out
Working together with people can be tough. It’s inevitable that when two or more work side by side, day after day they will experience conflicts and maybe even get on each other’s nerves. Having a disagreement with someone isn’t a big deal. It’s actually a normal occurrence in a healthy workplace. What can be a big deal is how people handle the situation.
Most people don’t handle conflict very well. They usually pursue one of three strategies, none of them leading to positive results. Some avoid the person and/or issue, meaning things never get resolved. Others get overly aggressive and escalate the situation into a big fight which at best is uncomfortable and at worst can permanently damage relationships. Still others become passive-aggressive, turning to gossip or sarcasm. This not only doesn’t solve the problem, it usually gets a lot more people mixed up in the dispute.
In this two-hour, highly interactive workshop, participants will learn a positive approach to dealing with conflict and the people with whom they find it difficult to work. Specifically, participants will learn how to:
- Analyze the situation so that they can make a better decision about what action, if any, they should take to address the situation.
- Prepare for a difficult conversation to increase the odds things will go well.
- Express concerns and their point of view in a manner that reduces the chances the other person will become defensive.
- Respond skillfully to a person who is defensive or overly aggressive.
- Listen respectfully to gain a better understanding of what’s really going on.
- Follow a standard problem solving process to give tough conversations some structure.
