Resolving Conflicts and Disputes, 9 March 2017

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

Managing

ConflictA practical guide

Owen BubbersManaging Director of The TCM Group

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

• Fire alarm and toilets.

• Timings/breaks.

• Phones

• Twitter

@owenbubbers@APMMBranch

• Opportunity for questions

and debate throughout.

• Guidelines for the workshop

(ground rules):

Confidentiality, Respect, Open

Mind, Please Participate.

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

TCM empowers people and organisations to adopt new approaches to dispute and complaints resolution; workplace relations; human resources and leadership development. We are passionate about protecting relationships whilst securing lasting and sustainable outcomes.

We work in partnership with our customers to develop the core values, systems, processes and behaviours which encourage co-operative problem solving, open dialogue and stakeholder engagement.

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2015

• Managing Director of TCM’s London Office and team of consultants

• Mediator, trainer and conflict management consultant

• Wide consultancy experience in finance, higher education and government sectors

• Winner of the Professional Mediators’ Association ‘Mediation Champion’ Award – 2015.

• Member of the Professional Mediators’ Association, the trade body for mediators in the UK.

Owen BubbersManaging Director, The TCM Group

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

MANAGING CONFLICT

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO RESOLUTION IN THE WORKPLACE

By David Liddle

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

1. What impact does

conflict have?

2. What challengesdo you face?

3. What do you needfrom this workshop?

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

Who do you think you are?

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

Fight.Flight.Freeze.Fall.

FLOW

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

The

anatomy

of a

conflict

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

Neutral Transformational

Dysfunctional Functional

Conflict

+ Potential risk -

-O

pp

ort

un

ity

+The four states of conflict.

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

Please form small groups. One of the group describe (briefly) a dysfunctional conflict that you have experienced: within a work or project team.

Group discussion, drawing on this example: what actions could you take (think proactive and reactive) to transform conflict from dysfunctional to transformational?

N T

D F

Conflict

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

• Are reactive.

• Are inherently adversarial.

• They polarise the parties.

• Rarely identify root cause of conflict.

• Individual or business needs are ignored.

• They impede creativity.

• They create a ‘blame, grievance, entitlement or litigation culture.’

The existing dispute resolution systems:

According to recent ONS data, The UK has one of the lowest productivity levels of the G7 nations.

The UK is ranked 9th out of 12 leading industrial nations for employee engagement.

Unresolved conflict costs the UK economy a staggering £33bn a year according to CEDR/CBI.

OPP, The people who publish Myers Briggs, estimate that 85 percent of employees deal with conflict on some level.

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

Questions and discussion

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

Opening the door to dialogue

Project managers as

mediators and

Peacemakers.

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2013

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

Project teams benefit when they take a values based, person centred approach for managing conflict: empathy, co-operation, collaboration, compassion and adult to adult dialogue.

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

My top 5 tips for managing conflict within project teams…

LISTEN ACTIVELY.Create a safe space. Open questions. Acknowledge, affirm, appreciate. 1

BE EMPATHETIC.What is going on for them right now? Walk in their shoes.

DON’T JUDGE, EVALUATE, ASSUME OR BLAMESupport the person to tell you their story. Suspend judgment.

DEPERSONALISE THE SITUATIONEncourage the speaker to describe their 1) observations, 2) their feelings and 3) their needs. You do the same. ‘Talking from the I’

FOCUS ON INTERESTS AND NEEDSNegotiate and make requests of each other which are mutually beneficial.

2

3

4

5

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

next steps…

1. FREE leadership and dispute resolution consultation.

2. Accredited mediator training.3. Confident Conversations training4. Team facilitation

5. World class mediation services

6. Management and leadership training.

7. Setting up an internal mediation scheme.

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

What has stood out for you?What changes will you make?

Final Thoughts…• Be radical – there has never been a better time to for a

new approach to conflict.

• Apply a holistic (whole systems) approach.

• Be proactive: embed constructive conflict management into project plans and change plans etc.

• Empathy is key.

• Actively encourage co-operative and collaborativeproblem solving.

• Strong feelings are OK. Work with them.

• Adult to adult dialogue = talking and listening.

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

www.thetcmgroup.com © 2016

For more information, please email me or link with me via social media:

Owen.bubbers@thetcmgroup.com

www.thetcmgroup.com

@owenbubbers

This presentation was delivered at an APM event

To find out more about upcoming events please visit our website www.apm.org.uk/events