Course: How to Create Conflict-Positive Cultures

Design Summary: Creating Conflict Positive Cultures

Targeted at: Emerging leaders, frontline managers within medium to large Australian organisations (level: emerging through to mid management).

Option 3 ideal duration & format: 6 week blended concept, this involved 5 x 90 minute live virtual masterclasses, one full day face to face workshop + six microeLearn units and workplace practise guidance.

Mode of delivery: Mixed (two face to face days, delivered in Sydney and Melbourne, with the remainder being delivered synchronously live online and asynchronous learning on the course LMS).

Example of a price point (limit): $495 incl. GST per person for the blended micro programme (minimum 12 persons in a cohort).

Serviced areas: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Geelong and Parramatta.

Assessment & measurement: Pre/post validated surveys, roleplay scoring rubric, manager observation checklist, 90 day behavioural follow up and organisational KPI tracking (grievances; engagement; time to resolution).

Programme rationale (short): For too many organisations, conflict is a storm and they just need to wait till it passes by. That's lazy. Conflict, when well managed, sparks creativity, pace and learning. This program turns heat to horsepower: by training leaders in the practical skills they need, embedding them into facilitated practice and providing HR measurement tools so that board can actually see ROI.

Executive summary (what delegates will take with them):
- Mindset shift: from conflict avoidance to conflict positive thinking
- Practical skills: active listening, interest based negotiation, structured facilitation and mediation basics
- Systems: simple playbooks to embed psychological safety, feedback loops and decision protocols
- Measurement: tools to prove behaviour change and impact (surveys; manager observation; simple metrics)
- An implementation plan specific to each of three business areas (operational teams; project teams; customer facing teams).

Core evidence base (single headline finding): "Organisations who treat psychological safety as a feature, the way buildings have fire escapes, see better results. Google's Project Aristotle identified psychological safety as the most important factor for high performing teams, not perks, not intelligence, not experience." (See Sources & Notes.)

Module Map (week by week)

Week 0: Pre work & baseline
- Pre programme survey (psychological safety, conflict comfort, number of unresolved issues in past 90 days).
- Short reflective assignment: describe one recent "useful" and one "destructive" conflict. Ideas we will use: Capture facts, feelings, and results.
- Micro learning 1 (20 minutes): Why conflict positive cultures are important, fast models and examples.

Week 1: Mindset & language: Reframing conflict
Learning outcomes: Reframe thought models, first steps towards normalising dissent.
Format: short lecture; small breakouts to surface local attitudes; "language audit" exercise (identify phrases that silence dissent); behavioural commitments.
Key outcomes: Draft team language charter; draft pledge for team leaders (5 commitments to foster dissent).
Evaluation: observation of facilitator, product of a charter draft.

Week 2: Understanding conflict dynamics & sources
Learning objectives: Dealing with the following symptoms will help Organisations navigate through these causes of conflict successfully. Identify common sources of team conflict (resource scarcity, role ambiguity, clashing goals/values). Identify escalation patterns.
Tasks: case discussion and analysis connected with Australian workplaces, conflict heat maps for delegate teams; what the 'pattern' is in one problematic situation; mapping simple causal loops during a problems situations to bring about an effective root cause workshop.
Tools provided: conflict source checklist, escalation matrix template.
Evaluation: deliver a team conflict heatmap and associated actions.

Week 3: Foundations of communication: Active listening, inquiry and feedback
Learning outcomes: Scale your practice of active listening; use structured inquiry to go below positions.
Actions: skill drills (listening pairs, reflective summarising): fishbowl demonstrations; feedback scripts practice.
Deliverables: reflective feedback script; 7 day listening challenge (for the job).
Feedback: roleplay rubric, empathy, summarising and question quality.

Week 4: Psychological safety & emotional intelligence
Learning outcomes: Connecting psychological safety to everyday practices; Learn simple EI routines to manage escalation.
Inclusions: Reviewing the evidence base of Google Project Aristotle; leader self assessment on EI; micro coaching triads.
Tools: leader checklist for psychological safety (3 daily habits), quick de escalation script.
Opinion note: Did I say I'm blunt, too many organisations are playing with "values" posters and calling it psychological safety. It is a matter of boring, gut level consistency: leaders who stand up for small mistakes and make room for contrary views; those opposed to "yes men" and the threats they represent. Some will argue that it undermines authority. That's where I beg to differ, it bolsters it.

Week 5: Facilitation, mediation & structured problem solving
Learning outcomes: Facilitate conversations with large groups; conduct a 60 to 90 minute mediation; use an interest based bargaining approach in workplace disputes.
Exercises: demo mediation, triage decision trees, medi play (with audience).
Useful templates: meeting agenda (hard topics), script for mediation, agreement tracker.
Review: role play critiqued using the mediation rubric; peer review.

Week 6: Embedding, measurement & sustained practise
Learning outcomes: Design local playbooks; measure cadence; create a sustainment plan with HR and leadership sponsors.
Activities: stage briefings for 90 day embedding plan; trial manager observation tools; senior leader briefing script.
Outcomes: Team playbook (A4), measurement dashboard (3 Key Performance Indicators), 90 day change plan.
Evaluation: submission of playbook and measurement plan; peer review.

Optional add ons (modular)
- Full day on site: "Safe Space: Facilitating High Stakes Conversations" (intensive with live mediation practise).
- Train the Trainer: 2 × 4 hours to accredit internal facilitators and HR advisors.
- Exec briefing: 90 minutes for SLT, evidence, risks, sponsorship asks.
- "Conflict Quick Clinics", 30+ min HR drop in twice a month for 12 weeks post programme.

Module plans & session content (facilitators)
Powersource example kit CommunicationPowersource intro kit (all weeks apply)
- Module learning objectives; 20 minute micro lecture slide deck; two case studies; three practical tools; two 30 minute practice scripts and a one hour variation by facilitator preference, participant pages of PowerPoint including up to six exercises, recommended reading (short).
- Warm up: 5 minute check in with the team / Pair micro poll icebreakers or quiz (Mentimeter or LMS); Agreeing the behaviour contract for today's meeting.

Sample session plan, 90 minutes (Week 3)
0 to 10 min: Check in, Update on intentions from last week.
10 to 25 min: Mini lecture, active listening (theory & evidence).
25 to 45 min: Co drills, 7 minutes (talker/listener roles), observation notes. Fishbowl, 2 volunteers show example, group critique/rubric vs fish bowl.
60 to 80 min Design: Application (each person writes an application/situation from their team, designs a small script).
80 to 90 min: Commitments & micro challenge for the week.

About practicing this design, 3 step escalation debrief
- Run: perform the difficult conversation etcetera
- Reflect: immediate radar feedback, 5 minutes adhoc using your rubric that you set up etc.
- Embed: moving minds to "next action" still in the debrief who is going to try running this script in real workmanship This Week. This three, minimises the syndrome of let's not try it. People actually do it.

Evaluation framework (real & measurable)
1. Pre/post survey: validated scales for psychological safety (7 item measure adapted from Amy Edmondson) and conflict comfort. Pretest + post immediate + post 90 day.
2. Roleplay rating: standardised 5 point scale across 5 domains, curiosity, empathy, clarity, boundaries, shared outcomes pursuit. Multiple raters (trainer + peer).
3. Manager observation: 4 week observer checklist completed monthly for three months, statements about conduct of meetings, dealing with challenge, evidence of challenge without retaliation.
4. Operational KPIs: number of formal grievances filed (goal: 20% decrease in 6 months), employee engagement subscale on "can I speak up" (goal: +10 points), average time to resolve team issues (goal: 25% quicker). These are voluntary and require HR systems to be in place.

Tools & templates list
- Conflict heatmap template
- Conversation scripts (opening lines, pivot lines, repair phrases)
- Facilitation agenda for "difficult topics"
- Mediation checklist, and agreement tracker
- Manager observation checklist
- Psychological safety daily checklist for leaders (3 items)
- Quick metrics dashboard (Excel): Baseline and month on month change.

Experiential exercises & learning exercises (examples)
- "The Useful Fight" story swap: pairs trade a short story of a conflict that was useful. Group pulls out behaviours that made it useable.
- Listening lab: 3 rounds, listen for facts, listen for emotions, listen for assumptions. Each round is 4 minutes. Brutal but works.
- Devil's Advocate rotation: structure a meeting so that one person is tasked with opposing all proposals, a protected, time boxed position playing Full Contact Personal Attack Baseball™ and reducing ad hoc nastiness.
- Red team vs Blue team Good old fashioned knock down drag 'em out challenge to test project assumptions. This is something a lot of project teams shy away from, this is where the real value lies.

Leadership & governance alignment
- Senior leader briefing script: 60 minutes, evidence, sponsorship asks, simple governance: who signs off on the 90 day plan, monthly metric pack recipient and boundary cases.
- Role of line managers: which is instantiation led coaching behaviours; 1:1 script for follow up coaching conversations.
- HR role: role of delivering 12 week clinic schedule, triage thresholds to move into formal HR process (engagement or performance conversation), cadence needed to give reporting talk to People Committee.

Risks, common pushbacks & mitigation (opinionated)
- "This will motivate disruption", mitigation: clear roles, decision protocols and boundaries. Don't mistake constructive dissent for relentless indecision.
- "Leaders will be undermined", mitigation: training focuses on leader accountability, consistent consequences for personal attacks. Those who show vulnerabilities are respected more than those in overcontrol. There are those readers who will argue vulnerability is a weakness. I disagree. It's strategic.
- "Too resource intensive", mitigation: begin with high risk teams or pilots. When you have the evidence from your pilot, go get budget to scale.

Cultural translation & localisation notes (Australia)
- Use of local case studies (Retail team turning customer policy disputes in Brisbane, project teams using red team rehearsals in Melbourne).
- Cultural nuance: Australians generally value straight talking. Reframe "psychological safety" in everyday language, "safe to speak up without being shot down."
- Respect for unionised environments: base playbooks on the enterprise agreements, involve union reps early.

Facilitator competence & instructor's notes
Minimum level of facilitator: experienced mediator or senior workplace trainer with a minimum of 5 years' experience facilitating in corporate environment. Prefer working with someone who has coaching credentials.
- Co facilitation model: trainer + SME (HR leader) is best for authenticity
- Trainer kit: facilitator guide, sample answers for the tough questions, recorded exemplar roleplays
90 day sustainment & scaling plan: Week 0 negotiate with SLT; Week 1 launch the next group, Weeks 2 to 8 coaching clinics once a week; Week 9 formalise pilot, Week 12 evaluate how to scale.
- Internal champions: Find and support (coach) our own change viruses, get another "411" at each site, where they work out their tests of changes
- Dissent Labs meets once/month
- How will we Train the Trainer?

Measurement plan (example KPIs & targets)
- Psychological safety survey score: baseline → target +10% in 90 days.
- Formal grievances: baseline → target −20% in 6 months.
- Manager observation score: 60% of observed meetings show evidence of structured dissent opportunities in 3 months.
- Project outcomes: fewer post launch fixes among teams that employ red team reviews (target −15% rework).

Assessment & Iteration
- Review data every month for first 6 months, then quarterly.
- Feedback loops: anonymous pulse in weeks 2, 6 and 12. Log and apply facilitation improvements each month.
- Lessons learnt (case studies), implemented, not; outcome?

Budget Implications & resourcing
- Sample low cost pilot (virtual only, 3 live sessions + micro learning): $495 per person (min 12).
- Full blended programme (6 weeks + 1 face to face + coach hours): custom quote, but typically $2,500 to $4,500 per delegate dependent on scale and travel.
- Hidden cost warnings: leadership time; HR integration; measurement systems. They are more important than driver fees.

Sample 90 day execution plan (single page)
- Secure executive sponsor
- Find pilot teams
- Baseline survey complete
- Launch cohort
- Set manager check ins
- Measure at 30/60/90 days measure go/no go for scale

What success looks like (behavioural signals)
- Regular meetings with structured challenge slots; dissent is not punished and is invited.
- People confess partial ignorance; mistakes are discussed without finger pointing.
- Problems solved earlier, with fewer surprises at launch.
- HR handles fewer cases, but better upstream reporting of issues.
- Encouraging change: Can add to end of year KFR 2024 objectives and personal development goals

Two small, and controversial, opinions (so you will know where I stand):

One: most "team building" is theatre. You want durable behaviour? Teach tools, establish measurement and hold managers accountable. Not everyone will, some of them will probably want trust falls. Fine. Will not change the needle.

Two: treating conflict as a personal failure is backward. Complacency is the real enemy. If your teams never disagree, by all means! You have built a silent tomb for lost possibilities.

Closing mechanics (scrunch this down into an L&D calendar)
- Pilot velocity: 8 weeks from contract to delivery (fewer if virtual only).
- Reporting rhythm: weekly during pilot, monthly after scale.
- Documentation gifts: each cohort departs with a one pager playbook and measurement snapshot.

Facilitator resources & recommended readings (short list)
- Handy facilitator cheat sheets in Summary
- Short articles and case studies that are used in sessions (PDF).
- Suggested reading list for leaders (3 books/articles).

Final note (practical, a bit blunt)
This is the infrastructure you need. The benefit of going blended is you get practice + accountability. So it will have to be a checkbox for some HR teams. Don't. Start small, measure, then scale. We deliver these programs for clients around Australia and the best pilots we have seen are those where a senior leader (and I mean publicly) commits to doing the data review. Everything else is noise.

Sources & Notes
- Google Re:Work (Project Aristotle). Findings: psychological safety was found to be the number one factor of effective performance among teams in Google's study on effective teams. Source: Google Re:Work, Project Aristotle (analyses and summaries published by Google's People Operations team).