Let’s be honest: conflict at work is inevitable. Staying stuck in it does not have to be.
This course is designed for employees navigating conflict with teammates, across departments, and with supervisors or leaders. Grounded in the SHAPE Model for Productive Disagreement, it offers a practical framework for preparing for difficult conversations, acknowledging different perspectives, building understanding, and working toward realistic solutions that address problems while strengthening professional relationships. Participants also expand their skills by exploring the neuroscience of conflict, communication, and conflict styles, and the role emotions play in workplace interactions. Throughout the course, you will learn how to approach challenging conversations, manage tension in the moment, and respond to conflict directly and constructively.
If your work depends on collaboration, communication, and navigating competing priorities, this course will help you do all three more effectively while turning everyday disagreements into more productive conversations.
What You Will Learn
- Increase self-awareness of your personal approach to conflict and understand how it affects interactions with others.
- Understand the neuroscience of conflict and the role emotions play in workplace interactions.
- Practice techniques and skills that help reduce tension, build mutual understanding, and promote joint problem-solving.
- Gain greater confidence in initiating and navigating difficult conversations.
- Apply practical tools and takeaways that can be implemented immediately.
Course Outline
Day 1: Conflict Overview and the SHAPE Approach
-
Conflict: What it is and why it can be difficult to navigate.
-
Reactions and personal approaches to conflict.
-
Communication and conflict styles, and how individual approaches affect others.
-
The neuroscience of conflict, including how the brain assesses risk and reward.
-
The role emotions play in workplace interactions.
-
Introduction to the SHAPE Model for Productive Disagreement.
-
Tips, techniques, and practice: Hearing and acknowledging.
-
Tips, techniques, and practice: Asking questions and showing understanding.
Day 2: The SHAPE Approach Continues
-
Tips, techniques, and practice: Partnering to explore solutions.
-
Tips, techniques, and practice: Evaluating and evolving.
-
Using artificial intelligence to support conflict resolution.
-
Practice: Putting it all together through a full simulation and debrief.
-
Ongoing skills development and next steps.
This course is available for "remote" learning and will be available to anyone with access to an internet device with a microphone (this includes most models of computers, tablets). Classes will take place with a "Live" instructor at the date/times listed below.
Upon registration, the instructor will send along additional information about how to log-on and participate in the class.
