Stressed Out: How to Handle Conflict, Difficult People and Challenging Situations (CPG273T)

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Top Causes of Conflict and How to Identify and Deal with them in the Workplace.

Conflict plays an inevitable part in our lives. No matter how hard one tries, something will always cause frustration, anger, impatience, or a whole host of other not-so-pleasant emotions, in you or someone around you. Conflict arises when people working together have different perspectives, ideas, values, backgrounds, goals or expectations. Yes, conflict can be destructive!It diverts your energy from more im­portant ac­tivities and issues; it can produce irresponsible behavior; and it also po­larizes people and re­duces co­op­eration. Conflict can be construc­tive too!It opens up and improves commu­nication; it leads to better quality decisions and problem solutions; and it strength­ens working relationships and team­work.

The ability to handle difficult situations and conflicts is a great leadership skill. With confidence in your people management skills, you do not have to be afraid of disagreement. You do not have to back away from problems. However, you can confidently face the confrontation and bring the issue out into the open. Well-managed conflict sparks creativity, stimulates ideas, and encourages personal improvement. There is no good or bad conflict. It is the way YOU handle conflict that produces constructive or destructive results.

Time is Money. A variety of direct costs to the organization are associated with poorly managed conflicts, including, in the worst cases, the loss of good employees and customers. One that is visible to everyone is the time taken to successfully resolve issues. Time that must be better spent on achieving goals and accomplishing work is instead used to manage disagreements, deal with difficult people, and smooth ruffled feathers.

In a study on workplace conflict, CPP Inc. found that an overwhelming majority (85%) of employees at all levels experience conflict to some degree. They further found that on an average, each employee spends 2.1 hours every week—which is, approximately one day a month—dealing with conflict in some way, that is, by being involved in a disagreement, or managing a conflict between co-workers. For the U.S. alone, it translates to 385 million working days spent every year as a result of workplace conflict. It is a major drain on the resources of HR departments: half of the HR workers questioned (51%) spend 1-5 hours a week managing disagreements.

The crucial issue is not whether conflict, disagreement and difficult people can be avoided—the real concern is how they can be dealt with that will lead to positive outcomes. If managed improperly, businesses’ productivity, operational effectiveness, and morale take a major hit. On the other hand, when channeled through the right tools and expertise, conflict can lead to a better understanding of others, improved solutions to problems or challenges, and major innovation.

Join this session by expert speaker Marcia Zidle where she will help you identify the top most causes of conflict and will discuss which ones produce the most problems. Marcia will discuss how to recognize and deal with the types of difficult people that drive you crazy. With the session, you will also be able to understand the iceberg concept of conflict. The focus of this webinar is how deal with the inevitable conflicts, difficult people and situations that occur in the workplace so that it leads to positive outcomes, both for the people involved and the organization.

Session Highlights

• Identify the top six causes of conflict and which one produces the most problems
• Understand the iceberg concept of conflict – what’s above and below the water line
• Define five conflict management styles and match each style to different conflict situations
• Decide if you’re a shark or a turtle or a teddy bear or a fox or owl in how you handle conflict.
• Learn how to keep your cool and react in a professional manner in the heat of the moment.
• Learn the language of positive communication to reduce negative emotions, especially anger.
• Recognize the three types of difficult people that drive you crazy and how to deal with them.

Who Should Attend

• CEOs
• COOs
• VP of Human Resources
• Chief Learning Officer
• Directors
• Project Managers
• Operation Managers and Supervisors
• Team Leaders
• Human Resources Professionals
• All industries – government agencies – non-profit organizations