DEFINITION
Conflict coaching is a dynamic, practical and productive process in which individuals build their capacity to develop creative and constructive ways to handle conflict and resolve disputes that negatively impact their professional or personal life. Coaching is a confidential and voluntary process in which a Coach works with individual clients on a one-to-one basis. One of the major premises of conflict coaching is that the opportunity for growth and learning exists in any situation. Agree consultants use coaching both as a proactive stand-alone process with individuals who want to improve their conflict management, communication and negotiation skills, or as needed during other workplace restoration processes such as mediation or prior to group restoration processes.
BENEFITS
Working with a qualified Conflict Coach assists individuals to:
- understand their own conflict management style
- gain insight into how conflict impacts on them
- examine the drivers of conflict and how to mitigate their impact
- recognize negotiation strategies used by others
- improve communication skills
- increase their effectiveness at resolving disputes
- prepare for anticipated disputes
- debrief interactions that have gone badly, in order to gain skills moving forward
- as individuals develop their conflict management skills they build confidence, minimizing avoidance of potential conflict situations
THE COACHING PROCESS
An Agree Coach will consult in advance with an organizational representative in order to develop an understanding of the organizational goals along with insight into the ways in which the Coachee can best be supported by the Coach. At the beginning of any coaching relationship, the Coach will provide the Employer and Coachee with a Coaching Agreement that outlines the role of the employer, Coach and Coachee, along with confidentiality provisions.
Coaching sessions are typically two to three hours in length. Where possible Agree prefers in-person coaching sessions, and when distance is a factor, or the coaching relationship is established, sessions can also take place by phone. The role of the Coach is a blend of personal consultant, trainer, advisor, and motivator. Within the framework of the Coachee’s role within their organization, the Coach will work with each party individually to set session agendas that focus on their goals with respect to improving competency in conflict management, professional problem solving, and effective communication.
Agree Coaches may use personal assessment tools to help individuals identify their motivational value systems and what that means in terms of what they value and how they relate to others. Using the insight and framework provided by the assessment tool, the Coach assists the Coachee in learning ways to adjust their responses for improved communication and to exercise versatility in adjusting their own behaviour as needed. Coaching may also include short teach pieces, role plays, brief and debrief of actual work situations and other fieldwork assignments. The number of sessions is dependent on the learning needs of the individual and the client budget.
In some leadership situations, such as a manager who is leading a team through a difficult change situation or is leading a fractious team, coaching is valuable to assist the manager in dealing with high conflict situations. Once the coaching relationship is established, and the initial objectives have been met, the manager, on an impromptu basis, may decide to resource the Agree Coach at a later date, to prepare for a difficult conversation (eg. performance appraisals, downsizing, change in role or reporting) or to debrief a meeting that had a negative outcome to discuss options for next steps.
The Next Best Step: We invite you to call our office to discuss the most appropriate conflict resolution process for your situation – 1-800-524-6967.