Conflict Resolution Training and Facilitation

Conflict is an every day part of organizational life. Conflict can have a devastating effect on productivity, morale, teamwork, and, ultimately, in the achievement of organizational goals. Unresolved conflict can have a significant negative impact on commitment to the organization and productivity.  Proper resolution of conflict can lead to increased clarity of responsibility, result in constructive improvement, facilitate greater communication cooperation within and across departmental units, and improve customer service.  The goals of our conflict resolution services are to reach a positive outcome for all involved parties. 

We employ an interest-based or win-win approach to conflict resolution (IBCM).  IBCM reflects a new problem solving approach to handling conflict.  Unlike the traditional methods of avoidance and position-based conflict management, IBCM is a collaborative approach to problem solving, conflict resolution and negotiation.  This approach, based on the Harvard Negotiation Project’s book Getting to Yes, is widely used by both private organizations and government agencies to solve problems and resolve conflict in a variety of organizational contexts.  These include:

• Conflict between and among co-workers

• Conflict with constituent groups, customers, and suppliers

• Conflict within intact teams, between and across organizational units

• Conflict among departments and even with other agencies. 

The IBCM process can be used for developing and sustaining critical relationships within and outside of your organization with integrity—especially where cooperation is needed to achieve mutual goals.

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Interest-Based Conflict Resolution Training

This 2-day, intensive, skill-based training course, is designed to equip individuals at all organizational levels with the skills of collaborative conflict resolution and problem solving. The course is also designed as a team building and problem-solving workshop for intact groups as well as interdependent groups or organizations where conflict is an impediment to working together effectively. Using real-time issues, course participants learn to:

1. Treat conflict as a natural resource for solving problems and improving relationships;

2. Attack problems while respecting people;

3. Raise issues in a way that invites cooperation;

4. Explore issues to discover underlying interests;

5. Generate options for mutual gain; and

6. Develop agreements based on objective standards.

The course can be tailored to meet the unique needs of our clients. Typically, we limit the course to 20 participants to allow for individual feedback and coaching.

Clients who have offered the course to their organizations report:

• Greater productivity through enhanced team work

• Enhanced problem solving skills of employees

• Improved communication

• Improved quality of work life

• Improved internal and external customer service and satisfaction

• Facilitation of change management initiatives

• Enhanced the achievement of organizational business goals.

• Cost-savings.

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Conflict Resolution Skills Coaching Clinics

There are times when our clients have desired a more intense and personalized conflict resolution training and coaching program. This approach has been used as a management and supervisory development program. Our conflict resolution clinics can involve anywhere between one to 5 individuals. Participants complete several assessment tools to gain insight about their conflict management and interpersonal styles and their personal barriers to conflict resolution. Using real-time, job-related conflict scenarios, participants are videotaped applying interest-based principles and skills to resolve their issues. Role-playing, behavioral modeling, and personalized coaching are used to support the participants in mastering the desired conflict resolution skills. 

Conflict Resolution Facilitator Training 

To ensure that IBCM concepts and principles are integrated into an organization’s culture and to develop an organization’s internal capacity to continue offering such training, HD also offers IBCM facilitator training for appropriate organizational members to facilitate our IBCM course in a variety of organizational contexts.   Facilitator training involves 2-3 days of training, followed by several “Facilitator Clinics” (typically three, half-day sessions spread over a two-month period).

Third-Party Conflict Resolution Facilitation and Coaching 

There are times when the parties to a conflict have reached an impasse and a neutral, third party is needed to help the individuals move off of their positions and commit to resolving the issue between them in order to achieve a mutually satisfactory solution.  At these times, our clients call us to facilitate the interaction.  Other times, they call to get coaching on how to handle the issue themselves.

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