The importance of managing conflict: training recap
by Family Councils Ontario
At this week’s Enhanced Conflict Resolution & Negotiation Training delivered by St. Stephen’s Community House, attendees had the opportunity to learn from conflict resolution and negotiation experts. This training will help the participating Family Council members and LTC home staff better understand and resolve conflict and negotiate positive outcomes. Whether training participants were currently experiencing conflict within the Council or home or wanted to develop conflict resolution skills in order to prevent conflict, the training helped us all develop the skills we need.
We started the training with an overview of conflict. The bottom line is that conflict is inevitable and is also an opportunity for learning and increased understanding. We spent time reflecting on our own experiences of conflict and how we feel when we think of conflict. Understanding our own default approaches to conflict helped to set the stage for the rest of the training. We then discussed the dynamics of conflict and how to de-escalate conflict. In-depth discussions of active listening and how to get to what is beneath the surface gave us the skills to improve our communication approaches in ways that will manage conflict and achieve positive results. After all, conflict is a normal part of life no matter where we live, work, or play. Long-term care is no different in that regard.
We also discussed an issue essential to Family Council success: how to raise a concern. This part of the training provided a step-by-step approach to raising a concern that opens a dialogue. Our discussions of setting boundaries, defusing hostility, and conducting negotiations gave us the info we needed to practice our skills in a roleplay scenario and open discussions of issues currently being faced by training attendees. All of the opportunities to practice these new skills will help attendees resolve conflict when they go back to their homes and Councils.
Everyone walked away from the training with new skills and increased confidence in their abilities to approach and resolve conflict. FCO is thrilled to be able to partner with St. Stephen’s to deliver this much-needed training to Family Council members and LTC home staff. We strongly believe that all home staff and Council members can benefit from developing skills in resolving conflict and look forward to continuing to deliver education and training on conflict resolution.
FCO will be hosting two more Enhanced Conflict Resolution & Negotiation sessions in March 2019. Stay tuned for more details of these upcoming trainings!