Intervention Prevents Escalation
Once a conflict becomes toxic, productivity has already been impaired and an intervention may be the only thing that stands between the current situation and much greater costs – costs derived from needing to restructure or re-employ, the imminent risk of project failure, or even litigation.
- Very few people have had conflict training even though it improves 95% of conflict outcomes
- 49% believe that the conflict was caused by personality ‘clash’ or ego distortions.
- The annual cost of workplace conflict to US companies is $359,000,000,000.
- 85% of workers experience some form of conflict in an average year.
- 2.8 hours per week per person is spent dealing with conflict.
- Conflict training improves profit share by more than 100%
- Organisational conflict damages corporate reputation.
- The average cost of a stress claim is $109,000.
- 9% of projects fail because of conflict.
When Conflict Is Already Problem, You Need An Intervention
Toxic conflict creates disruption in the workplace. Ideally, prevention is better than cure and we recommended businesses upskill staff at all levels to reduce frequency of toxic conflict. However, if your business is already affected by a conflict of some kind, then an ‘intervention’ may be required.
Solution
Even at this stage, an intervention can save tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cost of allowing the conflict to continue means continuing productivity problems at the very least, and having the company become engulfed in litigation at the worst.
An intervention is more than an education program and involves making an assessment of the difficulties and depending on our findings, we will recommend:
Group or Private Coaching Sessions
Identify Unrecognised Elements in the Conflict
Negotiate and Mediate
Internalise New Skills
Interventions Help
Toxic conflict in business can take on a wide variety of forms ranging from people not working well together, to a seemingly insoluble conflict over a specific issue, to longstanding or repeated conflicts within one of your teams or departments.
The benefit of using an intervention inlclude:
- Reducing the level of toxicity of the current situation.
- Developing an environment allowing the parties to negotiate toward a creative solution to resolve the current conflict.
- Significantly reduce the risk of litigation because of the current conflict.
- Reduce the risk of serious toxic conflict in the future.
- Improve the future communication and negotiation strategies of the parties to the conflict with benefit to the team’s productivity.
- Identify broader problems the company can ‘cure’ to improve overall performance and productivity.
Our Intervention Program
The basis of our intervention is the personalised administration of our Communicate for Success program which helps participants develop a comprehensive understanding and skills involving communication, conflict and negotiation. Participants also reflect on their own contributions to communication and learn how to implement structures that improve the quality of communication with a focus on effective listening, and being able to develop creative solutions to problems and avoiding toxic conflict.
In addition to exploring issues related to the current conflict, participants will learn about the principles of communication, conflict and negotiation as they work through the following modules.
- The basics of communication & conflict.
- Understanding toxic and producitve conflict.
- The importance of non verbal communication.
- Grasping the things that aren't said.
- Effective listening
- The conflict spectrum.
- How to help someone become less emotional.
- Negotiation strategies.
- Understanding psychological defences.
- Understanding difficult people.
- Negotiating with difficult people.
- How to help someone become less emotional during a conflict.
- Creating written responses to conflict.
- The importance of self reflection.
- Reflective practice.
- Reflective skills.
Program Formats
Our programs can be delivered in a variety of formats depending on the level of personalisation and any other considerations you require.
