Unresolved workplace conflict can result in employee dissatisfaction, decreased productivity, poor team performance, absenteeism, high turnover, and lack of creativity.
Without the confidence and skills to manage conflict, professionals tend to avoid conflict, hoping that it will work itself out, while inadvertently allowing it to fester and escalate into a significant drain on organizational resources.
Course Overview
This practical and interactive course focuses on deconstructing conflict and understanding how our personal histories affect our perceptions of conflict. Through group discussion, we discuss conflict styles, how to de-escalate emotion, manage conflict through effective communication, and facilitate a process to resolve conflict.
This training will give participants the skills to confidently manage and resolve conflict. Participants will learn a proven conflict resolution process, including:
- How to define tension and conflict
- How to identify causes of tension
- How to identify causes of conflict
- Conflict resolution skills and tactics
- Methods for dealing with conflict
- Negotiation skills for preventing conflicts from escalating
Get Training Details & Pricing
Contact us for information about pricing, program details, or to schedule training.
Who Should Register for this Conflict Management Course
New Supervisors and Managers
Individuals newly promoted to supervisory or management roles often have little to no experience handling conflicts. This course will help them resolve day-to-day conflicts and mediate disputes between team members or other teams.
Experienced Supervisors Looking to Improve Conflict Resolution Skills
Even more experienced supervisors and managers can benefit from conflict management training. As workplaces evolve, new types of conflict and challenges emerge, which require continued training and development.
Leaders and Executives
High-level disputes or conflicts can have a negative impact on an organization’s performance and productivity. Conflict resolution training can help leaders and executives address these situations effectively and resolutely.
Key Learning Outcomes
Supervisors and managers will learn how to effectively handle conflict in a variety of different situations, including:
Interpersonal Conflict
Perhaps the most common, this type of conflict happens between individuals in the workplace and can arise from differences in personalities, values, or work styles.
Conflict with a Manager or Supervisor
Conflict can occur when a manager or supervisor and their employees disagree over job expectations, job performance, or even management styles.
Conflict Over Resources
When employees or teams are competing for limited resources, such as equipment or office space, conflict can crop up.
Role Conflict
When employees have conflicting or confusing job roles or responsibilities, it can create conflict between employees or even entire departments.
Conflict Over Organizational Change
Some individuals accept organizational change while others resist it, causing disagreements about changes like restructuring or downsizing.
Conflict Over Differing Views and Perspectives
Conflict can naturally occur when individuals or groups with different perspectives or communication styles are brought together.
Conflict Over Communication
When there are misunderstandings or communication breakdowns, it can result in conflict. Active listening and strong communication skills can help individuals at all levels resolve conflict.
Difficult Conversations
Difficult situations or challenging conversations in the workplace can often lead to conflict due to differences in employee perspectives, emotions, and unmet expectations.
Delivery Methods
We work with organizations to create a customized training solution, and we deliver the courses nationwide in a variety of formats. Our training program can be delivered in-person or virtually depending on your company’s needs. Training sessions can be delivered in half-day, full-day, or one-day workshop formats.
Prior to training, ERC performs an assessment of your organization’s needs to recommend the right structure and content. Modules can be customized based on the needs of your organization and training participants.
Traditional Classroom Format
Our traditional classroom format can be delivered at your organization, a facility of your choice, or at ERC’s Training Center. This format is best suited for small groups with no more than 25 people per class.
Virtual Format
Our virtual format is delivered live and can accommodate larger groups.
Led by Experienced Trainers
While some supervisory training programs are led by trainers who have never been in a supervisory role, ERC’s trainers bring decades of on-the-job supervisory, management, and leadership experience.
Our trainers pride themselves on being able to connect with today’s supervisors and frontline managers on the challenges and opportunities of the job.
Tom Ault
Chris Powers
Nada Djordevich
Damon Lindor
Frequently Asked Questions
Put simply, workplace conflict is expensive. One study found that managers spend over 4 hours on average every week dealing with conflict in some way. This isn’t always direct; it can be time spent managing conflict as well. That’s why conflict resolution skills training has been proven to yield some of the following benefits for individual employees and organizations alike:
- Empowers managers, supervisors, and employees to feel more confident handling conflict
- Helps employees prevent conflict by recognizing warning signs and learning essential communication and negotiation skills
- Teaches managers and supervisors skills needed to produce positive outcomes for all parties involved in conflict
First of all, the nature of interpersonal relationships at work can be complicated. Supervisors and managers have to navigate different personality types, communication styles, and emotions. One employee relationship might have a completely different dynamic than another.
Common sources of conflict are differing goals, values, and expectations among employees. Potential issues can arise when there are limited resources, unclear expectations, or even just personal misunderstandings. Supervisors need to be able to identify potential conflicts before or as they appear and come up with a conflict resolution strategy before it becomes a larger problem.
Particularly for newly promoted supervisors and managers (or those without training), it can be challenging to balance daily tasks and deadlines while also addressing team conflicts. Training can equip managers and supervisors with strategies to navigate these interpersonal relationships and resolve conflict among workers more effectively.
When conflict arises in the workplace and it’s not addressed, it can disrupt everything from employee satisfaction to performance—essentially it can harm a positive work environment. That can lead to decreased morale, increase employee stress, and breakdowns in communication among team members.
Unresolved conflict can also detract from a productive work environment. When conflict happens, employees become distracted and organizations see reduced concentration and productivity. The energy used resolving workplace quarrels could otherwise be better directed focusing on organizational or team goals.
Just as conflict detracts from a positive and productive environment, it can also lead to a negative work environment. Tensions and hostilities can create a toxic workplace, making it difficult for employees to feel motivated or engaged in their work.
