Conflict Management Workshop:
Dealing With Difficult People
Is an overly demanding client eating into your productivity? Is a difficult co-worker causing you stress? Are neighbors threatening the peace of your neighborhood? Is a family feud draining the fun out of family gatherings? Is a boss or suborninate giving you anxiety?
A one-day course to help you better manage difficult people, such as employees, clients, disputants (in mediation) and family. This course provides an overview of the theory and practice of negotiation in difficult situations and/or where emotions are volatile. Topics include power imbalances, apology and forgiveness, impasse strategies and understanding “difficult people.” The course is open to anyone.
Date: May 8, 2009, 9 am - 4 pm
Training Objectives
By the end of this module, participants will be able to:
- Define “difficult people” vs. difficult situations.
- Identify the parts of the brain that affects decision-making in crises/conflicts.
- Identify interpersonal disconnects that can make interactions difficult to manage.
- Describe the elements of difficult conversations.
- List at least two ways of managing difficult people.
General Course Outline
- Understanding the brain in conflict
- Dealing with Communication and Personality Disconnects
- Performing conflict “triage”
Course Participation:
Since this is a “learn by doing” class, and since class learning depends on a group experience, your attendance and participation is essential. Please be considerate of your classmates and instructor as we build a classroom community during this course. Behaviors such as arriving late, leaving early, ringing cell phones, pagers cause disruptions which inhibit learning for all participants.
Course Modifications:
From time to time it may be valuable to make changes in course policies or schedules. Therefore, we reserve the right to modify any of this syllabus during the course. It is each participant’s responsibility to be aware of any such changes as they are announced.