Find your conflict style

Conflict gives us a chance to better understand ourselves. We can learn what upsets us, what our values are, and what triggers us. Some behaviours are useful, some are not suited to the situation. When we learn more about ourselves, we can learn new skills to be more flexible.

This workshop is based off Style Matters by Ron Kraybill. It’s a bit like doing a Myers-Briggs evaluation, only for conflict! With Style Matters, we discover how we normally approach conflict, that there are other ways to engage with conflict, and that we can build skills in other styles.

There is no bad conflict style. We simply want to become more flexible in which skills we employ, and we want to make sure they’re suited to the people and issues we’re talking about.

What we’ll discuss

• Why anger happens

• How to stop the anger cycle

• Know our conflict style both when storming and when not

• Get to know the benefits and costs

• Develop your least preferred style

• Practice with role plays on developing this least preferred style

• Recognize styles in others

• Practice recognizing the style in others and using your skills

• What if you have a hard time using one of the styles

• Focus on relationships when necessary

• Focus on agenda when necessary

• Learn to spot the difference (both for you and the other person)

Workshop outcomes

• Understand your specific conflict style

• Know the steps you can take to become more flexible

• Ability to recognize traits in other people

• Practice in a non-threatening, low-risk environment

Benefits to teams

Workplace teams are expected to get along and perform, but what happens when styles and personalities collide? How do team members effectively engage with each other, listen, and make decisions? This workshop will help teams:

• Get to know each other better and understand others’ patterns

• Build trust

• Bring perspective to what is happening at work

Benefits to individuals

As human beings, every day we interact with people. Some of these interactions can be delightful, while others can be frustrating or infuriating! In most interactions, both (or all) people are responsible for what is happening. This workshop will help you:

• Reflect on your habitual approaches to difficult situations with other people

• Think about the styles of other people in your life

• Build flexibility when interacting with other people

• Start to gain skills to be part of the solution