Conflict De-Escalation

Turning Down the Heat: Conflict De-Escalation for Frontline Staff and Customer Service Professionals

Conflict is something that most of us would simply rather avoid. These conversations can be messy, edgy, overwhelming, and stressful. For people who work with the public, there is the added challenge of often having an audience. An audience can quickly escalate the situation and often results in employees feeling overwhelmed and under supported.

Hospitality staff, first responders, retail workers, front desk employees, receptionists, hospital unit clerks, customer service professionals, and others that ideal with and interact with the public on a regular basis, often experience difficulty in the form of a customer (or member of the public) escalating emotions and behaviours, conflict, abusive behaviours such as verbal attacks and threats and sometimes physical altercations.

Safety ,security and wellbeing for all is the priority, but most employees are not trained or equipped with the proper support, policies and techniques to safely and respectfully intervene and de-fuse these situations.

This training will give participants the critical skills to de-escalate conflicts when they arise - in a safe and effective way for all parties.

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn the 5 styles of conflict resolution and the different ways that situations can escalate
  • Learn about a practical, step-by-step model which can be used to remain safe, calm and de-escalation the situation
  • Know how to ask for help when the situation is more than one can handle
  • The Dos and Don'ts of successful conflict de-escalation
  • How the supportive stance can keep you safe
  • Case studies to learn from
  • Practice applying the model and receive feedback
  • Analyze the specific steps and actions they can take to prevent and/or de-escalate the conflict they face in their particular workplaces

Take-Away Strategies & Tools:

  • Safe de-escalation strategies and techniques
  • Team "code words" to access help immediately
  • Effective default scripts to have on hand
  • How to go from bystander to upstander

Additional Information:

  • This talk has been developed for leaders and their teams
  • Standard length is 3.5 hours. It can be shortened to more of an overview, and can be covered at a high level in a keynote. It can also be extended to a full-day workshop that dives deeper into the material and includes more case studies, scenarios, and skill-building opportunities.
  • This session is available for virtual or for in-person delivery
  • Client will be responsible for speaker travel costs, plus a per diem over and above the speaker fee
  • Need additional tailoring of content, or a fully customized session?  We're here for you. Book a free needs assessment today so we can uncover exactly what you need and how we can help
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