Customized Training for Organizations

A group attends a CDR training. The CDR is uniquely positioned to provide customized training for businesses, non-profit organizations, and government agencies on a variety of conflict and communication topics. Contact us for a free consultation and to explore the benefits provided by tailored training provided by the CDR.

  • Pre-training assessment allows the CDR to create a training program that meets your organization’s unique culture, needs, and goals.
  • Knowledgeable staff and consultants utilize a variety of teaching methods to provide interactive and effective training experiences.
  • Expert presenters drawn from the CDR’s pool of staff and consultants and Missouri State University’s faculty offer a wealth of knowledge.
  • Location options allow training to be provided on-site, at our offices in downtown Springfield, or at another location. Trainers can travel to any location and provide A/V equipment as needed.
  • Continuing education credits can be offered through Missouri State University’s Outreach program, including credits for attorneys, mental health professionals, social workers, human resource professionals, and others. Or, the CDR can work with an organization to assist with submitting training for CE approval.
  • Affordable rates on training are an advantage offered by the CDR as a non-profit center. Additionally, organizations can feel good knowing that their training fees will go to support the CDR’s community outreach efforts and programming for students.

Contact the CDR for more information on how a training can be customized to meet your organization’s needs and goals.

Sample Training Topics

Mediation Training (2-5 days)

Mediation is an informal non-legalistic process where two or more disputing parties meet together with an impartial mediator. The mediator is trained to assist the parties in developing a mutually agreeable resolution. In mediation the mediator does not suggest or impose a solution, but rather assists the parties in the conflict with understanding the situation and developing an acceptable solution on their own.

Mediation offers a fast, flexible, and private method of resolving a variety of workplace conflicts. Through mediation the parties in conflict not only come to understand their own and others positions and develop a creative and collaborative solution to the conflict, but they also learn strategies to more effectively manage future conflict situation.

The CDR provides customized mediation trainings for individuals working in a variety of contexts. This training covers (but would not necessarily be limited to) the following topics:

  • The causes and dynamics of conflict;
  • Listening skills;
  • Negotiation theory;
  • Interests vs. positions – getting at the real goals in a conflict;
  • Diversity and conflict;
  • Interviewing techniques;
  • Ethical standards and issues in mediation;
  • The role of the mediator;
  • Mediator neutrality;
  • Dealing with power imbalances;
  • Emotion in mediation;
  • Legal issues in mediation;
  • Varieties of approaches to mediation;
  • Strategies and techniques in mediation;
  • Stages of mediation;
  • The use of caucus;
  • Co-mediation;
  • Confidentiality;
  • Drafting agreements;
  • Appropriateness of mediation in various circumstances; and
  • Issues specific to the mediation of disputes of interest to participants

The training will include extensive opportunities for role playing and debrief (which may include demonstrations, fishbowl, and/or individual role playing as well as audio-visual examples of mediation).

Mediation trainings can be customized to focus on the skills needed for specialized contexts, including the following:

  • Mediation skills for leaders and supervisors
  • Mediating employment and workplace disputes
  • Mediating neighborhood conflicts
  • Mediating human rights complaints

Conflict Coaching in Organizations (2 day)

Conflict coaching is a process wherein a trained and skilled coach works one-on-one with an employee to help them develop their capacity to address conflict situations. In conflict coaching sessions the coach utilizes a focused process to help an employee work through a conflict and develop skills and strategies for addressing the problematic issues in question.

Conflict coaches work with employees by helping them concretely analyze the facts and circumstances surrounding their conflict, examine the relationship and communication dynamics involved, determine the employee's current competence and confidence in addressing the conflict on their own, and develop strategies and approaches for managing the conflict when returning to the workplace.

The provision of direct coaching from a colleague or supervisor places the responsibility and capability to manage the conflict in the hands of the individual who is in the best position to address the situation in a manner that best meets the needs of the unit, supervisor, and situation: the employee themselves. Additionally, because coaching builds the conflict management skills and capacities of the employee, it increases the employee’s ability to manage future conflicts without assistance.

Individuals within organizations who are trained in conflict coaching can serve as coaches within their work units, can utilize the skills of a conflict coach informally in their day-to-day work, and/or use their knowledge of conflict coaching to identify opportunities for early intervention in conflict situations within the organization.

This session will discuss coaching strategies to help participants assist others as they encounter both simple and complex conflicts. Training topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The value of one-on-one coaching for employees in conflict
  • The role of the conflict coach
  • Methods to discover an employee’s full conflict story
  • Strategies to help employees evaluate their own behavior and thinking
  • Techniques to explore perspectives of identity, emotion, and power
  • Questions to help employees clarify their true goals in conflict
  • Strategies to support employees in visioning their desired conflict change
  • Methods for developing employee’s communication and conflict skills

Managing Conflict – Skills for Supervisors and Leaders (1-3 days)

Conflict in the workplace is extremely costly to organizations. The majority of employees (85%) have to deal with conflict to some degree, and a third do so always or frequently. Employees on average spend 2.8 hours every week addressing workplace conflict, and managers spend 25%-40% of their time managing conflict with and between their employees.

Reports indicate that 60%-80% of all the difficulties in organizations result from strained relationships between employees, and the majority of employee performance problems are the direct result of these strained relationships. Employees consistently report that interpersonal conflicts at work are the most stress-producing element of their jobs, and these conflicts at work result in lost time and absences, reduced productivity, decreased commitment to the employer, rigidity of thought, and burnout and program failure.

Leaders within organizations exercise a unique power to influence the culture of the organization, impact the ways in which conflict is managed, and reduce the costs of poorly managed conflict. As such, it is vital the organizational supervisors and leaders have the knowledge and skills to support employees’ needs to address conflicts with their co-workers, employees, and other internal and external constituents. This training is designed to build supervisors and leaders understanding of conflict and enhance their skills; topics covered include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The causes and dynamics of conflict;
  • Conflict styles and their role in interactions;
  • The role of perceptions, needs, and emotions in conflict;
  • Conflict styles;
  • Listening skills in conflict;
  • De-escalating emotions in conflict;
  • Strategies for managing conflicts effectively;
  • Taking the initiative to intervene early in conflicts;
  • Having difficult conversations;
  • Coaching others through conflict; and
  • Giving and receiving feedback.

Understanding Conflict and Working with Families and Youth (2 days)

Working with high-conflict families and youth presents unique challenges for professionals. This two-day training will explore the causes and dynamics of conflict and provide specific skills and practice related to understanding and managing high-conflict adults and youth. Participants will explore the impact of conflict styles, personality types, cultural influences, and personal history on conflict dynamics and will gain hands-on skills to more effectively and efficiently manage conflict situations that arise when working with families and youth.

Dependency/Child Protection Mediation Training (1 day, if participants have prior mediation training)

This training focuses on child protection or dependency mediation, a collaborative process involving a neutral person who facilitates constructive negotiation and communication in a child welfare case among parents, lawyers, child protection professionals, and others, in an effort to reach a consensus regarding how to resolve issues of concern when children are alleged to be abused, neglected, or abandoned. Topics addressed include the core values of dependency mediation, how dependency mediation differs from family support team meetings and traditional mediation, the structure of dependency mediation, and the skills used by mediators in dependency cases.

Facilitation Training (2 days)

This training focuses on providing skills to allow participants to develop and facilitate successful support groups for clients. This training will cover (but would not necessarily be limited to) the following topics:

  • Setting expectations and creating group agreements
  • Promoting critical thinking through asking questions and active listening
  • Managing difficult group dynamics
  • Understanding the stages of group formation and facilitator roles at each stage
  • Promoting safety within the group
  • Developing creative and engaging group activities
  • Utilizing a circle process as a facilitation tool
  • Role playing and debrief (may include demonstrations, fishbowl, and/or individual role playing)

Family Group Decision-Making/Family Group Conferencing Training (2 days)

Family Group Conferencing (FGC) (also known as Family Group Decision-Making) is a process that brings an individual or family together with their relatives, friends, and other supportive people in their lives to develop a plan to address an issue of concern. This flexible process in used in a variety of contexts, including in child welfare cases, truancy, substance, long-term health needs, and more.

The CDR offers customized training in family group conferencing (FGC). This training covers the philosophical underpinning of the FGC model; the goals and benefits of the FGC process; appropriate behaviors, role, and responsibilities for an FGC coordinator; facilitation skills, including conflict management, communication, and facilitation strategies; strategies for building strong family support networks; how to prepare family members for the FGC process; and how to effectively coordinate an FGC meeting.

FGC trainings are customized to focus on the use of the process in a variety of contexts, including in child welfare, truancy, substance abuse recovery, case management and more. The CDR is also experienced with assisting organizations in FGC program design and development.

Victim-Offender Mediation Training (2 days)

This training applies the principles of restorative justice to prepare participants to facilitate structured dialogues between selected juvenile and adult offenders and their victims. These dialogues offer individuals impacted by crime the opportunity to explain how they have been affected by a crime and to ask the person who committed the offense questions like, “Why me?” and “Will you do this again?” Participation empowers victims, offering them closure and providing peace of mind.

Offenders also benefit from meeting the victims of their crimes. By putting a human face on their offenses these youth and adults realize that their thoughtless acts hurt others, and they often feel empathy for those impacted for the first time. Additionally, these dialogues offer the opportunity for those who commit offenses to make personally meaningful restitution to their victims. Through this process they learn accountability and are reaffirmed as members of the community, thereby decreasing the likelihood they will reoffend.