Reduce Conflict in the Workplace: Effective Ways to Handle Disagreements, Difficult People, Tough Situations

Marcia Zidle

Date:
July 23, 2025
Duration:
60 Minutes
Time:
1 PM EST | 10 AM PST | Wednesday
Speaker:
Marcia Zidle

Live Version:

Recorded Version:

Combo Offers

Live + Recorded

Live + Recorded

Overview:

Workplace conflict is inevitable when employees of various backgrounds and different work styles are brought together for a shared business purpose. A recent study on workplace conflict found that that an overwhelming majority (85%) of employees, at all levels, have experienced dealing with conflict in some way (being involved in a disagreement, managing a conflict between co-workers, teams, or customers.) The negative effects of workplace conflict can include work disruptions, decreased productivity, project failure, as well as increased absenteeism and turnover. In more serious cases, prolonged conflict can lead to legal problems.

How much unresolved conflict causing stress and costing your organization? There are a variety of direct costs associated with poorly managed conflict, including, in the worst cases, the loss of your valued customers and your top talent. Another cost is the time spent by managers who are constantly dealing with disagreements, handling difficult people, or smoothing ruffled feathers. Their time would be better spent on accomplishing their work and team goals.

The crucial issue is not whether conflict, disagreement and difficult people can be avoided; the real concern is how they can be dealt with that will lead to positive outcomes… a better understanding of others, improved solutions to problems, and increased team performance.

This webinar will equip your managers, supervisors, and team leaders with powerful tools to avoid common mistakes made by those who are well-intended but ineffective; to learn to communicate in a way that lessens the heat of the moment; to resolve, and even to prevent major conflict by quickly defusing a difficult situation.


Why you should Attend:

Conflict is an inevitable part of life. No matter how hard you try, it can seem that there will always be something that causes you or someone around you to be frustrated, angry, and impatient – or a whole host of other not-so-pleasant emotions.

Conflict arises when the people we work with have different ideas, perspectives, priorities, backgrounds, values, goals, or expectations. It can result from a misunderstanding about a project, or a strained relationship between co-workers, or a sudden operational issue, or even from personality clashes. Therefore, the ability to effectively handle conflicts, difficult people and tough situations is a necessary management and leadership skill for every supervisor and manager.

In this webinar you will learn conflict management strategies and skills that will equip you with useful techniques to prepare for, respond to, and resolve disagreements in the workplace. When you are confident of your conflict resolution abilities, you don’t have to be fearful or uneasy when disagreements occur within your team or with others. You don’t have to back away from problems! You don’t have to be stressed out!

Instead, you can face confrontation and bring the issue out into the open. Well-managed conflict actually stimulates ideas, sparks creativity, and encourages personal improvement. Conflict by itself is neither good nor bad. It’s the way YOU handle conflict that produces constructive or destructive results.


Agenda:

This highly informative webinar focuses on how to deal with the inevitable conflicts, difficult people and situations that occur in the workplace so that it results in positive outcomes both for the people involved and the organization. These seven points will be covered:

• Understand the iceberg concept of conflict – what’s above and below the water line.
• Recognize the top six causes of workplace conflict that you may have to manage effectively.
• Identify 5 conflict management strategies with examples that relate to our lives and workplace.
• Decide if you’re a shark – turtle - teddy bear - fox - owl in how you normally handle workplace conflict.
• Discover how to keep your cool and react in a professional manner when in conflict or disagreement with others.
• Analyze a real-world conflict situation between 2 staff people reporting to the same manager, explore possible solutions and decide which conflict management `strategy would work best.

Who Will Benefit:

CEO’s, COO’s, VP of Human Resources, Human Resource Professionals, Chief Learning Officer, Directors, Project Managers, Operation Managers and Supervisors, Team Leaders, Staff Managers and Supervisors, Independent Contributors

Live Version:

Recorded Version:

Combo Offers

Live + Recorded

Live + Recorded


Instructor:

Marcia Zidle

Speaker, CEO of Smart Moves Coach

Marcia Zidle, CEO of Smart Moves Coach, is a board-certified executive coach, business management consultant and keynote speaker, who helps organizations to leverage their leadership and human capital assets. She has 25 years of management, business consulting and international experience in a variety of industries including health care, financial services, oil and gas, manufacturing, insurance, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, government, and nonprofits. She brings an expertise in social and emotional intelligence; executive and team leadership; employee engagement and innovation; personal and organization change management. She has been selected one of LinkedIn Profinder’s top coaches the past 5 years.