What is Conflict Coaching?

Conflict Coaching is a process that helps individuals or groups manage or resolve ongoing conflict and enhance effective communication. Through the use of powerful questions and training in conflict management training, this form of coaching provides participants with powerful insights and self-awareness that allow them to better manage and resolve ongoing issues. Conflict coaching immediately provides participants with powerful tools that are used to move beyond conflict and disagreement and to create more effective, peaceful relationships. This process helps you to effectively engage with others and to create strategies and options to resolve outstanding issues.

What is the role of the mediator/conflict coach?

The role of the mediator/conflict coach is to:

  • Help parties explore the underlying reasons for their conflict; and

  • Through the use of strategic questioning, allow the participants to develop useful insights and self-awareness; and

  • Provide conflict resolution skills that clients can immediately apply to their specific situations, including skills that will ensure that the same issues do not reoccur; and

  • Provide communication skills training; and

  • Apply the learned skills to the issues at hand.

Who can benefit from conflict coaching?

Anyone experiencing ongoing conflict where there is a need to have a productive relationship can benefit from conflict coaching, including:

  • Divorcing or divorced individuals and couples who need to effectively parent their children; and

  • Individuals or groups experiencing disruption in the workplace that impedes employment-related performance; and

  • Leaders, managers and business owners experiencing difficulties with employees or coworkers; and

  • Married couples with ongoing conflict; and

  • Families experiencing entrenched, long standing conflicts; and

  • Neighbors or neighborhood groups; and

  • Friends.

In addition, mediation participants can also benefit from pre-mediation coaching to help prepare for joint sessions to ensure effective participation in the process.

What can be achieved by being conflict coached?

Participants gain greater awareness and the necessary skills to manage conflict by:

  • Gaining greater self-awareness of what each person contributes to a conflict; and

  • Clarifying outstanding issues and developing strategic approaches to resolve specific disagreements and conflicts and then ensure that they never reoccur; and

  • Changing ingrained, habitual behaviors that cause conflict and disrupt working relationships; and

  • Creating dialogue and understanding where there was once only a debate; and

  • Improving communication skills through the use of effective communication training;

  • Enhancing the co-parenting relationship for divorced parents by reducing or eliminating conflict and miscommunication;

  • Enhancing relationships between employees and management;

  • Enhancing productivity in the workplace;

  • Reducing the likelihood of EEO claims in your business; and

  • Promoting more effective participation in a mediation process;

  • Learning and implementing more effective conflict management skills;

  • Developing and implementing more effective leadership skills; and

  • Achieving more peaceful working relationships;

  • Developing a more effective management style;

  • Resolving of long-standing conflicts.

Conflict coaching is not counseling, mediation, arbitration or litigation. It is a practical, straightforward coaching process that provides you with skills and tools that can be immediately used to create better relationships.