Assertiveness and Conflict Resolution - Details

Overview

The work environment is generally fast paced and demanding. Sometimes, tempers can get frayed and relationships damaged.

Understanding how to behave and react to others helps us to work through these experiences in a way that is productive to both the individuals and the business.

This two day course will help delegates learn how to:

• Get their message across without offending others.
• Say “No” when they need to, without causing offence.
• Manage conflict effectively

ILM Approval

This course is approved by the independent Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM). The ILM is the UK’s leading awarding body for management and leadership training. Delegates will receive an ILM award certificate after completing this course.

Course Structure

This two day course is full of examples and provides opportunities for delegates to discuss and practice how to deal with potentially difficult situations.

We ask delegates to bring details of real life situations and conflicts where assertiveness skills might have a role to play.

During the course we will provide delegates with :

• A copy of all the course slides
• An action based workbook which after the course can be used as a reference book on what they have learned.
• An assertiveness “checklist”
• A framework to develop their own action plan for use after the course.

All delegates are also entitled to six months telephone and email support at no additional charge.

Course Aims

By the end of the course delegates will be able to:

• Recognise passive, aggressive and assertive behaviour in themselves and others
• Use a range of methods for managing different types of behaviour

Delegates will learn:

• The difference between confidence, assertiveness and aggression
• How to behave assertively when others behave aggressively
• What level of assertive response to use according to the situation
• How to listen and question effectively
• How to use body language and tone of voice effectively
• How to say “No”
• How to handle provocation, intimidation or conflict constructively
• When and how to compromise on key issues
• How to work with groups of people
• The skills to negotiate and thus achieve “win-win” solutions

List of course sessions

The course is divided into 12 sessions :

Introduction

• 1. What is assertiveness?
• 2. How can assertiveness skills help you?

Important skills

• 3. Communication styles
• 4 : Verbal and non verbal communication
• 5: Transactional Analysis

Using your assertiveness skills

• 6 : Making and Refusing Requests
• 7 : Giving and receiving praise
• 8 : Handling criticism assertively
• 9 : The art of saying “No”
• 10 : Handling difficult people

Special situations

• 11 : Working with groups
• 12 : Negotiation

Read on for more details on each session...

Detailed Course Schedule

Session 1: What is assertiveness?

Different people understand the word “assertive” in very different ways.

This section will help delegates to:

• Recognise assertive behaviour
• Distinguish between assertiveness, aggression and passivity

Section 2: "How can assertiveness skills help me?"

Assertiveness skills can help in a wide range of situations

This section will help delegate to:

• Assess their behaviour in a range of situations
• Decide which situations would benefit from more assertive behaviour

Section 3: Communication styles

This session introduces the different ways that we all communicate.

We each have a particular way of viewing things and this affects how we act and communicate.

Take for instance, Health & Safety rules. Some people may need to understand why Health & Safety rules have been devised in a certain way. Others are more practical and may simply want to know what the rules say so they can follow them.

We use the term “communication style” to summarise:

• The way we view things
• The way we act
• The way we communicate

To communicate assertively, it helps if you can recognise the communication style of the person you are talking to.

To get your message across, it is important to adopt his or her style, not yours.

This is harder than it might appear! -  All of us tend to communicate in a way that suits our style, rather than that of the other person.

This section will help delegates to:

• Understand their own style using self-assessment questionnaires we provide in the course
• Adapt their style to that of the person who they are communicating with

Session 4 : Verbal and non verbal communication

Language is a powerful tool for conveying messages - the ones we intend to convey and those that we do not!

In this session we look at the phrases, words and clichés that people use when conveying a message.

This session will help delegates to:

• Use language and tone of voice to the best effect
• Use appropriate body language, or non-verbal communication
• Listen actively

Session 5 : Transactional Analysis

If you have not been made aware of Transactional Analysis (“TA” for short), it might sound rather academic or technical.

In fact it is a very practical approach to human relationships. From our early years we learn to communicate at different times in one of three main ways - “adult” mode, “parent” mode or “child” mode. By choosing the way we communicate with others we can :

• Understand more about ourselves and the way we communicate
• Act assertively with more success
• Communicate more successfully

The trainers delivering this course will help delegates learn more about the choices they have in the way they communicate.

Session 6 : Making and Refusing Requests

In life we all need to ask others to do something, or find that people ask us to do things.

In classroom discussion and exercises we explore :

• What gives us the right to ask others to take a certain action ?:
  • Do we have ‘formal’ authority, perhaps as the person’s manager ?
  • Have we earned the right through past actions ?
• · What gives us the right to decline a request ?

We help delegates to understand the answers to these questions, so they can make requests and also decline them more confidently.

Session 7 : Giving and receiving praise

Most of us are not very good at giving and receiving praise. However, it can be very helpful - particularly in difficult and tense situations.

In this session you delegates learn :

• The importance of genuine praise and how best to deliver it.
• How to react to praise they receive.

Session 8 : Handling criticism assertively

This section will help delegates to:

• Recognise and accept their own feelings
• Cope with criticism and move on to solving problems

Session 9 : The art of saying "No"

Saying ‘no’ to a request from a colleague can seem quite daunting. It is this fear that leads people to say ‘yes’ to something that they are well within their rights to say ‘no’ to.  Doing this, however, can lead to resentment. This can cause misery, irritability and sometimes aggression, and cause a breakdown in working relationships.

We will help delegates to see ways of saying "no" to requests in a way that does not cause offence.

Session 10 : Handling difficult behaviour

Delegates attending this course may want to improve working relationships with people they find “difficult”.

In this session we will help delegates see ways to :

• Build rapport
• Question their assumptions about the other person
• Handle conflict
• Handle aggressive behaviour
• Handle people who are not sufficiently assertive

Session 11 : Working with groups

Being assertive when working with several people at once can be an extra challenge :

• How do you best influence a single person who is ‘disruptive’ ?
• How do you intervene if two people are involved in an ‘argument’ ?
• How do you help group members with low assertive skills ?

In this session you delegates learn :

• How to tackle issues the above issues.
• How a group changes as relationships develop.

Session 12 : Negotiation

Negotiations usually involve situations where one or more people have something to “offer” and something they want to gain.

Negotiations can include the seemingly minor:

• “If you do this photocopying, I’ll get you a coffee”

Or they can be much more significant…

• “If you offer a pay rise, we’ll call off the strike”

Assertiveness skills can be crucial in situations like these

This session will help delegate to:

• Recognise situations in which they may need to negotiate
• Set themselves an achievable aim in the negotiation process
• Arrive at a “win-win” result, acceptable to all who are involved

Practicing assertive techniques / the assertiveness action plan

Throughout the course we will help delegates practice their skills. We also provide a an outline plan that delegates complete as the course progresses. This becomes their action plan after the course.

On-going support

All delegates are also entitled to six months telephone and email support.