Conflict Management Training

Conflict management training rests on an assumption worth making explicit, because it is where the discipline differs from conflict resolution. The goal is not zero conflict.

A team with no visible disagreement is usually not a harmonious team. It is a team where disagreement has stopped being expressed, which means decisions go unchallenged and problems surface late. That is a more expensive condition than open disagreement, and much harder to detect.

So conflict management aims at the level and the type. Keep task and process disagreement live and visible, because it improves decisions. Address relationship conflict quickly, because it does not improve anything.

The practical implication for managers is uncomfortable. Sometimes the correct intervention is to surface a disagreement people are avoiding rather than to settle one.

Safe Work Australia covers the psychosocial duty. This is general information rather than legal advice.

See Sentrient’s conflict resolution course and psychological safety course.