EI Lab · Social Awareness · Relationship Management

Managing Conflict

Turn tension into collaboration and conflict into trust, instead of letting it quietly drain the team.

Lunch & Learn: 4 × 1-hour weekly sessions Accelerated: 3 × 90-min sessions In person or virtual Seven languages
Why it matters

The cost of getting this wrong

Conflict is part of every team. Left alone, it wears away trust, slows decisions, and pushes good people toward the door. Most friction at work is not really about the issue on the table; it has emotional roots, and it escalates in patterns you can learn to spot. This lab helps leaders and teams understand where conflict actually comes from, interrupt the escalation, and turn the hard moments into stronger working relationships.

What participants gain

In this lab, you build the ability to:

What the lab covers

The curriculum

  • Where conflict really comes from
  • How tension escalates, and the habits that fuel it
  • De-escalating in the moment
  • Validation and relational repair
  • The behaviours that resolve conflict and build trust

Grace EI competencies: Conflict Management · Empathy · Teamwork · Trust-Building

Format & Delivery

How it runs

Two formats

  • Lunch & Learn: four one-hour sessions across four weeks
  • Accelerated: three 90-minute sessions in a half or full day

Who it is for

  • Entry to intermediate level
  • People leaders and their teams
  • Live, interactive, instructor-led
  • In person or virtual classroom
The impact

What changes

For your people

  • More confidence in difficult conversations
  • Faster, cleaner resolution of disagreements
  • Stronger, more trusting relationships

For the organisation

  • Less time and energy lost to unresolved friction
  • A healthier, more collaborative climate
  • Fewer conflict-driven exits
Themes covered

What this lab covers

A focused session on where conflict really comes from — and how to turn it into stronger working relationships.

Where conflict comes from

The emotional roots beneath most workplace friction, and how it escalates.

Reading the early signals

Noticing tension before it hardens into a standoff.

De-escalation

Practical ways to lower the temperature and reopen dialogue.

Difficult conversations

Approaching the issue directly, with empathy and structure.

Repair and trust

Rebuilding the relationship after a clash, not just ending the argument.

Team norms

Agreeing how the team will handle disagreement in future.

Practical cases

Real situations we work through

Participants practise on realistic scenarios so they leave with responses they can use immediately.

Two colleagues in ongoing tension

  • Surfacing the real issue
  • Facilitating a reset
  • Restoring cooperation

A team split after a decision

  • Rebuilding alignment
  • Hearing all perspectives
  • Moving forward together

A manager avoiding a needed conversation

  • Preparing to open it
  • Holding it with care
  • Following through

Friction between departments

  • Understanding both sides
  • Finding shared goals
  • Agreeing a way to work
In summary

At a glance

Objective

  • Turn conflict into collaboration and trust
  • Give people tools for the hard moments

Who it's for

  • Teams, managers and anyone who works with others
  • No prerequisites

Format

  • Lunch & Learn or Accelerated
  • 6–14 participants · 7 languages

Outcome

  • Practical de-escalation and repair skills
  • Healthier team norms for disagreement
Get in touch

Interested in Managing Conflict (EI Lab)?

Leave your details and a Grace consultant will be in touch to talk through your goals, your people, and how we can shape this around your organisation.