Conflict Management Services

GOAL: reduce the cost of conflict...

“Conflict Management” Defined

Although we offer dispute resolution services, we view “conflict management” as a comprehensive loss prevention strategy which involves creating a company culture in which everyone takes responsibility for compliance with the rules and in which disagreement is acceptable – provided the proper rules for engagement are observed.  We envision a culture in which employees are encouraged and equipped to take responsibility for resolving their own disputes and one in which managers are equipped to mediate many of the routine conflicts that arise as a result of differences in a global workforce.

We offer conflict management services in six areas:

Risk assessment is the process of determining your company’s risk exposure to future conflict through interviews with C-Level decision-makers, surveys of middle managers and non-supervisory employees, and, if warranted, focus groups.  The objective is to determine what company or management practices may be creating perceptions of unfairness or discriminatory treatment, whether there is substance underlying the perceptions, and whether there is sufficient trust in leadership for employees to disclose those perceptions. The assessment will reveal the level of your company’s conflict risk exposure to be high, medium, or low based upon an analysis of the responses provided.

Training and Development

We provide conflict management training for leaders designed to develop more effective communication skills in delivering difficult messages and to enhance their ability to intervene in employee disputes or customer complaints without inadvertently escalating the conflict.  The training is highly interactive and supported by a conflict management toolkit with hands-on resources for managers.  We also provide conflict management training for your employees designed to create an understanding of why employees disagree, to raise their awareness of the corporate code of conduct, and to test their ability to comply with the code of conduct under difficult circumstances.

Leadership Training: 4-hour seminars                                           

CMC6  Training for Managers

Leadership Training: 2-hour seminars

Getting Everyone Into the “In Crowd” 
Integrity: How Does Your Workplace Measure Up?
Managing Workplace Conflict
Managing Customer Relationships  

Employee/Leadership Training: 2-hour seminars

What’s In Your Bag?
Here Comes the Judge!
Employees That are “Value-Able”

Leadership Coaching

Application of learning is the true test of skill development.  We provide “coaching consultations” that help leaders apply the conflict management skills acquired in conflict management training and refine their approach to real conflict management situations.  This builds skill and confidence in your managers.

Facilitated Problem-Solving

There are bound to be times when the senior leaders of your organization or members of your Board of Directors are divided over a critical decision. When the political stakes are high, the positions are entrenched, and the emotions are strong, we can help you diffuse the tension and re-focus your leaders on organizational goals and the strategies to achieve them using a proven, facilitated problem-solving process.

Dispute Resolution

We maintain a roster of dispute resolution professionals who conduct mediation and arbitration sessions for those situations involving a dispute that is too complex for one of your leaders to manage.  In addition to workplace disputes, we also provide dispute resolution for issues arising with suppliers of contracted services.   On average, each of the dispute resolution professionals on our roster has more than 20 years of experience and many are certified ADR professionals.

Mediation 
Arbitration

Team Interventions

There is usually some “storming” involved in the creation of new teams or in adding new members to existing teams.  But sometimes teams get stuck in storming.   We help team leaders assess the cause(s) of the chronic conflict and help them move teams from storming to performing.

When the stakes are high, the positions are entrenched, and the emotions are strong, we can help you diffuse the tension and re-focus your leaders on organizational goals and the strategies to achieve them using a proven facilitated problem-solving process.