Managing Team Conflict: From Dysfunction to Collaboration
Program Details
About the Program
Discover innovative strategies for reducing friction, fostering trust, and navigating challenging conversations. Research shows that managers spend over 20% of their time navigating workplace conflict. (Source: Harvard Business Review, 2024). Personality clashes, cross-functional disagreements, and dysfunctional team dynamics are everyday challenges in many organizations. When left unaddressed, these conflicts can strain relationships and disrupt productivity. However, when conflict is harnessed effectively, it becomes a powerful tool to enhance trust, collaboration, and innovation. During this highly interactive, 2-day program, you’ll acquire the tools and confidence to turn challenging situations into opportunities for growth. Through self-assessments, role-play exercises, case studies, and simulations, you’ll learn how to:
- Discover the root causes of conflict and how to address them effectively
- Recognize the different types of team conflict and the biases that can influence them
- Navigate challenging conversations with empathy, clarity, and trust
By the end of the program, you’ll be prepared to approach conflict as an opportunity for greater team success and collaboration, delivering win-win outcomes for your organization.
Experience
The program begins with an exploration of communication styles, where you’ll engage in a series of self-diagnostic inventories to discover your personal preferences and understand how individual differences shape your reactions to conflict. Through role-play exercises and interactive discussions, you’ll learn how to adapt your communication style to connect with others in various contexts. Alongside your peers, you’ll delve into the nuances of trust and how it can be built, maintained, and leveraged during challenging conversations. The day concludes with a dynamic simulation and debrief, where you’ll examine the impact of power dynamics on conflict and gain actionable strategies to mediate disputes and de-escalate tensions effectively.
Day two builds on the foundations of communication and trust by identifying and resolving team conflict. You’ll explore different types of conflict, learn how to harness its benefits while mitigating its harmful effects, and examine how individual differences contribute to interpersonal conflicts using the results of your self-diagnostic inventory. In addition, you’ll discover how conflict manifests in teams—whether from individuals, dueling coworkers, subgroups, or the entire team—helping you apply targeted strategies to address its origins. The course ends with a case study where you’ll practice mediating disputes, leading productive team discussions, and fostering a positive work culture focused on open dialogue and proactive conflict resolution.
Learn how you can customize this program for your organization.
Program Contact
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 612-625-5412
- REQUEST COURSE CATALOG
Who Should Take This Course & Why
- Senior managers, directors, and VPs
- Enhance your ability to manage conflict with confidence and composure
- Foster a culture of authenticity, trust, and mutual respect, ensuring that all voices are heard and valued
- Strengthen your ability to facilitate difficult discussions by building trust and creating a psychologically safe space for your team
- Discover your default approach to conflict and acquire the flexibility to adapt your style to a variety of contexts
- Recognize and mitigate implicit biases, creating a more inclusive, equitable workplace where differing perspectives are leveraged for greater innovation and success

Schedule
Session Overview
- The Unique Power of Communication: Participate in a series of self-diagnostic inventories to discover your communication styles and preferences. Learn strategies for adapting your approach in different contexts to foster effective conversations.
Conflict in Context: Engage in a variety of exercises to practice managing biases, addressing sensitive topics, de-escalating conflicts, and fostering productive dialogue.
Session Overview
- How Organizational Politics Impact Conflict: Explore how organizational politics influence conflict dynamics. Discover actionable strategies to navigate these complexities effectively while maintaining strong relationships.
Managing Difficult Conversations: Participate in an interactive simulation to explore the intricacies of trust and its critical role in managing difficult conversations. Develop an awareness of the different types of trust necessary to resolve conflicts and foster productive discussions.
Session Overview
- Foundations in Conflict Management: Discover how individual differences shape your perception of conflict by analyzing the results of your self-diagnostic inventories. Develop strategies for harnessing the benefits of conflict while mitigating its harmful effects.
- Common Causes of Conflict: Engage in an experiential exercise to explore how you may resolve differences and apply proven conflict resolution skills to reach productive outcomes.
Session Overview
- Managing Team Conflict: Gain valuable insight into the dynamics of team conflict through an engaging assessment. Identify where conflict resides in teams and how it evolves, as well as how to approach the different conflict origins within your team.
- Team Conflict Exercise: Using a comprehensive team facilitation guide, you'll gain practical experience in ensuring that every diverse perspective is heard and valued, while effectively resolving team conflicts.
Session Overview
- The Unique Power of Communication: Participate in a series of self-diagnostic inventories to discover your communication styles and preferences. Learn strategies for adapting your approach in different contexts to foster effective conversations.
Conflict in Context: Engage in a variety of exercises to practice managing biases, addressing sensitive topics, de-escalating conflicts, and fostering productive dialogue.
Session Overview
- How Organizational Politics Impact Conflict: Explore how organizational politics influence conflict dynamics. Discover actionable strategies to navigate these complexities effectively while maintaining strong relationships.
Managing Difficult Conversations: Participate in an interactive simulation to explore the intricacies of trust and its critical role in managing difficult conversations. Develop an awareness of the different types of trust necessary to resolve conflicts and foster productive discussions.
Session Overview
- Foundations in Conflict Management: Discover how individual differences shape your perception of conflict by analyzing the results of your self-diagnostic inventories. Develop strategies for harnessing the benefits of conflict while mitigating its harmful effects.
- Common Causes of Conflict: Engage in an experiential exercise to explore how you may resolve differences and apply proven conflict resolution skills to reach productive outcomes.
Session Overview
- Managing Team Conflict: Gain valuable insight into the dynamics of team conflict through an engaging assessment. Identify where conflict resides in teams and how it evolves, as well as how to approach the different conflict origins within your team.
- Team Conflict Exercise: Using a comprehensive team facilitation guide, you'll gain practical experience in ensuring that every diverse perspective is heard and valued, while effectively resolving team conflicts.