About our Conflict Coaching Service
Are you facing a conflict?
Are you facing a conflict with a colleague in your workplace? Are you a manager or leader who must deal with an unresolved dispute with someone you supervise, or between two individuals working for you? Are you at a loss as to what your best course of action might be to effectively deal with the conflict?
If so, why don't you touch base with your Dispute Resolution Centre (DRC) and talk to an ADR practitioner who is trained as a conflict coach. A conflict coach can help you make sense of what is going on, and assist you in expanding the options available to you.
When should you seek conflict coaching?
You can use it to:
- prepare for a difficult conversation;
- resolve a specific conflict; or
- improve your skills in conflict resolution.
How does conflict coaching work?
The conflict coach:
- works with you to clarify the goals you want to achieve over a series of three or four one-hour sessions;
- assists you in developing the best strategy to achieve your end-goals; and
- builds on your experience so you can deal with conflict more effectively in the future.
What else can you expect from the conflict coach?
The coach will help you to:
- discover and understand the underlying factors that are contributing to the dispute;
- move through any rough spots you experience when dealing with conflict;
- explore what "sets you off" through focused questions and observations;
- re-examine your assumptions about the conflict, and see another point of view;
- practice constructive approaches to handling the dispute;
- explore all options that can help you resolve the dispute; and
- have a better understanding of how you deal with conflict, and strengthen your conflict resolution skills.
How can you make conflict coaching a worthwhile experience?
You must:
- be an active participant in the exchange with the conflict coach;
- be prepared to talk about your situation, and to examine new perspectives; and
- provide honest feedback to the conflict coach if you feel that changes are required to the direction that is being taken during the session.
Something else you should know about conflict coaching
- Information shared with your conflict coach is confidential; exceptions and limitations are discussed and agreed upon as part of the conflict coaching process.
- The conflict coach does not provide counseling, professional opinions or advice, and does not replace legal or medical services.
How effective is conflict coaching?
In the words of two people who used our conflict coaching service:
"I was living a difficult conflict with one of
my colleagues and could only think of my feelings. It was amazing to me
how after a few conflict coaching sessions, I was able to view the
conflict from the other's perspective. This is the most powerful aspect
of this process and what allowed me to find the solution."
"I had a particularly bad experience in a Branch and decided that
the only way to deal with the dispute was to leave. But sadly, I
couldn't put the conflict behind me. Someone recommended conflict
coaching so I tried it. The conflict coach's active listening and
meaningful questions throughout the conflict coaching sessions greatly
helped me understand what had been going on and what I needed to do to
prevent this kind of situation in the future. It was the best thing I
could have done for myself."
