Author: mediation-admin

All humans need an authentic narrative to make sense of what happens around them. Without proper closure, the brain will constantly keep going back to what happened, making it difficult to move on.

However, what about closure after episodes of conflict and mass violation of human rights? How can one create feelings of trust and goodwill after a tragic event? It seems almost impossible, doesn’t it?

Keeping this in mind, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was created through a legal settlement between Residential Schools Survivors, the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit representatives and the parties responsible for the creation and operation of the schools.

This commission is solely responsible for informing all Canadians about what happened in residential schools by documenting the truth of Survivors, their families, communities and anyone personally affected by the residential school experience.

However, even after the development of TRC and the awareness it spread, at Mediation Services , we saw that many people still had an issue understanding TRC’s principles of reconciliation and how to start.

Hence, we came up with an online workshop dubbed ‘Making Truth and Reconciliation Real: Understanding and Implementing the TRC Calls to Action.’

About The Workshop

Over the last several years, Canada has seen growing interest and awareness around reconciliation. This was spurred on, in part by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which operated between 2008-2015. The TRC delivered a series of final reports including their findings and recommendations for reconciliation. This work included 94 Calls to Action which provided specific guidance on how Canadians could support reconciliation moving forward.

Many people are interested in actively participating in reconciliation work and being part of a positive change – but they don’t know where to start. Reconciliation can seem overwhelming when you’re not sure what to do or how to do it.

This course supports work toward reconciliation by building knowledge and inspiring change. Centred on the TRC Principles of Reconciliation, the course will help participants develop a deeper understanding of our shared history, current realities and the work of the TRC. The agenda will also include practical ways for supporting reconciliation work, including how to implement the TRC Calls to Action. Participants will leave with both an understanding as well as practical ideas for where and how they can become involved in reconciliation.

The objectives of this workshop are:

• Understand the context for the TRC and the Calls to Action
• Gain deeper insight into what reconciliation means and how it can be implemented
• Review the TRC learnings and Calls to Action
• Reflect on ways to act on the TRC Calls to Action and Principles of Reconciliation

You can register here.

Importance Of Truth And Reconciliation

Truth and reconciliation commissions have been working towards making the community a better place since the 1970s. Over the years, these commissions have helped society, in general, to pay more attention to mass violations of human rights.

In most cases, these commissions have focused on crimes carried out by a government against its own citizens. Hence, the TRC is not a court and it has no legal authority. It cannot indict, charge, or convict; rather it is a safe place that serves to open discussion and develop relationships about the difficult subjects surrounding the residential school experience.

Moreover, it does not signify or facilitate a transition from one regime to another. According to experts, it is restorative justice rather than transitional justice.

If you want to be a part of this but do not know how to, enroll in our course today.

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses, visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.

As a team manager, there are several things you have to take care of. From providing difficult feedback to employees to devising ways to deal with disrespect, a lot needs to be handled.

In addition to these, another common issue managers face is the generational gap causing conflict in teams. It is no secret that each generation – Veterans, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials – all have unique expectations, communication styles and needs.

Many companies nowadays have an amalgamation of generations at their workplace. The new generation helps bring new ideas to the business while the old employees ensure that the company does not stray from its course of action. However, this has led to several workplace conflicts.

Thus, there is a need to bridge this gap. There is a dire need for 21st-century leaders to learn tips and strategies to manage each generation effectively.

Mediation Services Winnipeg offers several courses conducted by renowned mediators. One of these courses caters to intergenerational workplace conflict.

Objectives Of The Course

Our workshop, ‘Generations at Work’, has been designed for managers and leaders so that they can understand and tackle the conflict. Most of us are not receptive to conflict, which is why we may not understand what lies at the core of these issues. Keeping this in mind, we have designed a module that will help you reach the following objectives:

• Learn the five generational work cultures in the workplace.
• Identify their generational work culture and the challenges of working with other generations.
• Examine the ways in which the five generations clash at work.
• Understand ways to effectively manage employees from all five generations.
• Understand what motivates you and other employees.
• Learn how to adapt your leadership style to motivate others.
• Differentiating between the “supportive coach” role and the “performance management accountability role”.

Bridge The Generation Gap At Work

Although diversity makes for a stronger workforce, there is a need to bridge the generation gap to ensure the team can work together efficiently and seamlessly. Some of the things you can do to bridge generational gaps are:

Don’t Rely On A Single Communication Channel

With remote work becoming more common and texting becoming the primary way we communicate with each other, older workers who are not familiar with these methods feel left out and frustrated. It is difficult for them to keep up with the rapid advancements.

Hence, if you have a team with several generations, it is important to provide a variety of communication channels. Don’t completely disregard older ways of communication such as phone calls and face-to-face meetings.

For this, you can implement a hybrid approach at the workplace where team members work remotely three times a week and come to the office for face-to-face meetings and set goals twice a week.

Two-way Coaching

Nobody is a know-it-all and there is room for learning no matter what designation you are employed at. Hence, implementing a two-way mentorship program can help with this. Each generation has something uniquely valuable to offer the other.

Hence, a great way to manage the generation gap is by developing a mentorship program within your organization. Millennials can teach the baby boomers about the new technology that can make the workplace more efficient while baby boomers can teach millennials all about the valuable real-world experiences they have gathered over the years.

Respect Should Be At The Front And Center

Developing a safe workplace for all generations is extremely important. If your employees don’t feel safe in their workplace, conflict is inevitable. Hence, teach all team members to be more open to listening to others. Whether it is ideas or inputs regarding certain tasks, each member of the team should feel that their own knowledge and contributions are being respected.

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses, visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.

Is life throwing lemons at you that you cannot handle? Are things becoming too overwhelming? Are you unable to handle conflict?

If your answer to any one of these questions is yes you are in the right place. At Mediation services , we strive to make you a better version of yourself by helping you deal with conflict , anger and lots of other things.

Today, the topic of our discussion is building personal resilience. Have you ever wondered why some people are able to meet conflict and life’s demands with optimism and elasticity while others become stuck and overwhelmed?

This is due to their lack of personal resilience. If you belong to this category of individuals, there is no need to fret or feel discouraged. We are here to help you develop the skills and attitudes of resilient people, especially in the face of short-term, sustained and chronic stress.

Our Building Personal Resilience: Coping with Stress course is exactly what you are looking for.

Objective Of The Course

With this course we aim to help you develop certain skills using reflective and interactive exercises. This session will develop awareness, flexibility and personal strength to help you meet challenges at work and at home.

The learning objectives of this course include:

• Increase one’s understanding of stress and resilience
• Identify patterns of short-term, sustained and chronic stress
• Develop skills and attitudes for managing stress
• Deepen a sense of one’s own resilience

The Importance of Personal Resilience

Personal resilience is an individual’s ability to adapt and bounce back when things don’t go as planned. While some people are able to do this, others end up dwelling on their failures.

However, the proper way to go forward is by acknowledging the situation and learning from your mistakes. This gives you the strength needed to process and overcome hardship.

People who are resilient are able to tap into their strengths and support systems to overcome challenges and work through problems.

Elements Essential To Resilience

Personal resilience is not something that you can develop overnight. Rather it is a trait that can only be developed over time. Moreover, there are certain elements that are essential to Resilience. These include:

Challenges

It is important that you view a challenge as something difficult, not something that is paralyzing.

Commitment

Staying committed to your goals despite the failure that comes your way. This includes a commitment to relationships, friendships, and the causes you care about.

Personal Control

Spending time and energy focusing on situations and events that you have control over rather than fretting about something that is out of your control is important.

Permanence

Understand what is temporary and what is permanent. Don’t consider temporary elements of life as permanent features.

Pervasiveness

Don’t let setbacks or bad events affect other unrelated areas of your life.

Personalization

Don’t blame yourself for events that have happened. Realize that some stuff is out of your control.

How To Build Resilience

Even if you are not a resilient person naturally, there are things that you can do and traits that you can develop to become resilient. Some tips for becoming a resilient person are:

• Take care of your physical and mental health to cope with challenges in a better way.
• Be practical when it comes to setting goals.
• Don’t let negative thoughts derail your efforts.
• Change and alter the way you think about negative situations and bad events.
• Don’t let your mistakes discourage you, rather learn from them and think about what could have been done differently.
• Change the way you respond to certain situations. Everyone has their bad days, however, your response to them is what shapes your perspective and personality.
• Be confident in your own skin and believe in your abilities.
• Develop strong connections at your workplace and in your private life.

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses, visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.

Do you often find yourself thinking “Why is giving feedback so hard?” or “How can I give better feedback?” If yes then you are in the right place. We understand that as a manager or a leader at your workplace, you have to undergo several difficult conversations with your employees.

Most of these difficult conversations are identified as conversations around an employee’s performance and work habits. Moreover, in most cases when you are engaging in conversations about work habits and performance issues other concerns may emerge. Some of these ‘other issues’ may include family crises, mental health issues, or changes in fatigue at the end of one’s career.

However, as a manager or a leader of a workplace, it is important for you to give effective feedback to your employees. Unfortunately, managers tend to delay giving needed feedback because of the anticipation that the employee will become argumentative and refuse to accept responsibility.

This is a common issue for many managers. However, there are several methods to avoid such issues such as by unlearning your previous ways of giving feedback and adopting a proper strategy.

At Mediation Services, we understand that it can be stressful for you to provide effective feedback to your employees who tend to get emotional. Hence, to help you deal with this, we have designed an in-person workshop dubbed “Effective Feedback”. This course explores some of the ways you can have difficult conversations and ways to support a culture where these conversations are expected and received well.

Also Read: How To Deal With Disrespect In The Workplace

Objectives Of This Course

One of the major focuses of this course will be to conduct conversations that maximize the likelihood that employees know and do what is expected in a way that maintains a positive and respectful relationship. During the course, we will also look into some practical examples.

After attending the training, you will be able to:

• Engage in 2 kinds of conversations that build and support positive relationships
• Have 2 types of specific conversations that result in a behaviour change while still maintaining the relationship with the employee
• Understand the consequences of not being proactive in having these conversations
• Adjust conversations when speaking to the direct blunt employee, as well as the indirect sensitive employee (adding art to the science)
• Understand the role of defensiveness and responding well to defensive energy
• Examine the interaction of ongoing feedback and performance evaluations
• Give feedback to reinforce positive behaviours
• Understand the impact of your tone and body language (metatalk)
• Describe problematic behaviour without judgement or evaluation
• Understand better their personal reactions to receiving feedback
• Develop an increased ability to screen and assess difficult situations to determine the best way to make an approach when a difficult conversation is required

Intention To Help The Employee Grow

When people do not take negative feedback or criticism well, it is usually because they do not understand the intention behind the conversation. In some cases, employees believe they are being told that they are not good enough while at other times, the feedback affects their self-esteem.

Hence, before having any difficult conversation, make sure you convey to the employee that the sole intention and purpose of the conversation are to help him/her grow and that they are a prized asset to the organisation.

The feedback is meant to increase, not drain, the employee’s motivation and resources for change.

Create A Connection

Creating a connection before giving proper feedback is absolutely essential to ensure that the employee takes the conversation well. Remember that a high-quality connection always facilitates change.

It is imperative that you promote openness. Because, if you start off feeling uncomfortable and self-protective, your employee will match that energy.

Problem-Solving Approach

We understand that giving developmental feedback that can spark growth is a challenge that many managers have to deal with. However, it becomes easy if you invite the employee into the problem-solving process.

After providing the required feedback, try finishing the conversation by asking questions such as:

• What ideas do you have?
• What are you taking away from this conversation?
• What steps will you take, by when, and how will I know?

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses, visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.

Disrespectful behaviour in the workplace is not uncommon. However, many leaders fail to understand that without some form of intervention, disrespect often erodes workplace morale and productivity.

As the supervisor or the manager, it is up to you to make a difference whenever you experience or witness disrespect. Doing nothing about disrespect and harassment of all kinds is no longer an option for both employers and employees.

A small act of disrespect might seem like nothing to you and you might consider that the best way to deal with it is by letting it go. However, the cost of disrespect within the workplace is huge. It has emotional, psychological and financial impacts that start to unravel as a disrespectful workplace shapes up.

Unfortunately, many leaders fail to promote a respectful workplace which has an effect on the morale as well as the productivity of the employees. Keeping this in mind, at Mediation Services, we have carefully curated the “Building a Respectful Workplace” workshop that will provide participants with an opportunity to explore how to build respectful workplaces.

It is designed to be highly interactive, combining both theory and practice. Mediation Services workshops implement a broad range of techniques, including role-plays, lectures, videos, and small and large group discussions.

Objectives Of This Course

Participants attending this workshop will have the opportunity to:

• Explore experiences of disrespect
• Learn how to effectively respond and recover as source, target, and observer of disrespect in the workplace
• Gain insight into the person in authority’s responsibility in maintaining a respectful workplace

The Costs Of A Disrespectful Workplace

A disrespectful workplace can lead to:

• Higher rate of employee absenteeism
• Higher rate of sick leave and short-term disability leave
• Reduced productivity and reduced profitability
• Increase in employee turnover
• Increase in workplace stress
• Potential litigation costs
• Difficulty in recruitment and retention of employees
• Decreased workplace morale
• Strained workplace relationships
• Reduced corporate image and customer confidence
• Poor public relations
• Decrease in the trust placed in management

Tools To Help You Deal With Disrespect

There are several tools you can use to deal with disrespect in the workplace. These are:

Crucial Conversations

A crucial conversation is characterized by three conditions:

• High stakes
• Opposing opinions
• Strong emotions

They are extremely important to resolve issues like disrespect in the workplace. In spite of differences in opinions, crucial conversations can help strengthen relationships and teamwork by creating a high-performance culture based upon trust and respect.

Anatomy Of Behaviour

Looking at the anatomy of behaviour means deconstructing the moment of disrespect. The three elements in which the moment is deconstructed includes:

• Intent
• Action
• Effect

Every time a person communicates, there is a public and private element. The public aspect is what we see and hear, the ‘action’. It is what a video camera would capture of the moment. The public element includes not only what is said but how it is said.

Usually, the private element, that is the intent, is ignored. However, it is as important as the public part of the communication. Hence, while dealing with disrespect, try to understand the person’s intent before jumping to conclusions.

Dealing With Disrespect

Many people who experience disrespect at the workplace choose to go with one of the following actions:

• Let it go if they believe the other person does not think it is disrespectful
• Ignore it if the behaviour is out of character for the person who is disrespecting them
• Forward a complaint if it is a constant behavioural trait
• Get even
• Hold on to a grudge
• Be forceful and snapback
• Talk about it and sort it out

To understand more about how to deal with disrespect in the workplace, enroll in our workshop today.

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses, visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.

Although having friends at work creates a happier workplace, it can also make things complicated when authority is involved. Friendships can be complicated, especially when it involves an employee and their direct supervisor.

There are several risks involved when you take your relationship with a colleague to the next level. It not only disrupts the dynamics of the team but might also affect the productivity of your ‘friend’ and other team members who might think your favours are directed to that particular person.

If you are dealing with something similar, consider enrolling in our Communication at Work workshop. By understanding your personal communication style and how you interact with others, you can create a positive, productive workplace. We will help you assess your natural strengths and how your communication style changes under stress.

As one of the mediation training experts in Manitoba, we believe it is up to us to help you deal with similar situations. Hence, we have curated this blog to help you understand the stance that you should take as a leader.

If you are working as a boss but your colleagues are your friends, you have to adopt a certain stance that will help you draw a line between your personal relationship with the person and your professional relationship.

Objectives Of The Course

Participants attending this workshop will have the opportunity to:

• Learn a common language with which coworkers can discuss, problem solve and reach agreements about improving workplace communications
• Practice specific strategies for “bringing out the best” in themselves and others
• Understand what is most likely to “bring out the worst” in others
• Identify aspects of troublesome behaviours which have the potential to be changed and those which are highly resistant to change, characteristics that are likely better accepted as “in the nature” of a person’s style

Being A Boss When Your Coworkers Are Your Friends

If you were recently promoted as the person in charge of your colleagues who are also your friends or if you recently transferred to a location where your subordinates are your friends, feeling awkward is natural.

However, dealing with this situation is not as difficult as it may seem. There are several steps that you can take to lessen the discomfort, including the following:

Have The Conversation

Instead of hoping that the uneasiness will magically disappear, have a conversation with each member of your team who was previously a peer. If you avoid this step, there is a high chance that things will become uncomfortable in the future. Moreover, you have to understand that your peers might be having the same feelings, so it is best to talk things out.

While talking things out, it is important that you acknowledge the discomfort. You can start by saying “I realize that since I’ve become your supervisor, our relationship has changed.” Or “Things have become a little awkward since I became the team leader.”

It does not matter what your exact words are, you just have to make sure that you efficiently communicate your sentiment.

Admit Uncertainty

This might sound like a difficult step but understanding and acknowledging that awkwardness creates uncertainty will help the other person realize that things might be a little different moving forward. The key is that you acknowledge your vulnerability and make the other person understand that the change in your position might affect yours and their relationship at the workplace.

Ask For Support

While talking about the change that will affect your friendship, also ask for support. Tell your peer that you are glad they understand and that you will need all the support moving forward. There is no doubt that becoming the supervisor created doubt and insecurity for your friends. These elements can fracture the foundation of any relationship. So when you involve them by asking for their support, you are sending a very powerful message by communicating that you need your friend.

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses, visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.

“The only thing that is constant is change.”

You might have heard this a couple of times and it would not be wrong to say that the idiom aptly describes life. Change is constant. Change equals life.

However, thanks to the fast-paced world that we are living in today, the amount of change and stimulus we are dealing with daily in our current time has increased not just incrementally, but rather exponentially.

The constant advancement, especially in the way information circulates has vastly increased the influx of information we receive. Although this has raised awareness and has improved exposure, it has also affected the way we perceive change.

Many of us feel that we are barely able to keep up with the unprecedented and uncertain happenings around the world. The only way to deal with this is by understanding change in a better way.

It is imperative that everyone learns change management. This will not only help us become better at dealing with information but will also make transitions in our personal and professional life seamless.

This is especially important for CEOs, managers and team leaders who have to lead other members through change as well. How can one lead others through something he/she is not capable of handling?

Keeping this in mind, at Mediation Services, we have designed several workshops including a two-day workshop about Adapting To Change. If you are a manager or a team lead, we suggest you get yourself enrolled in the “Leading Others Through Organizational Change” workshop.

Objectives Of The “Adapting To Change” Workshop

Participants attending this workshop will have the opportunity to:

• Discuss the definitions of terms related to change; the stages of going through change; and the external and internal factors that bring about change
• Determine their own personal style in relating to change
• Uncover myths and realities regarding change
• Examine how change can impact relationships and create conflict
• Explore the importance of preparation and support in effectively implementing and managing change initiatives
• Discuss the importance of resiliency when dealing with change

Objectives Of The “Leading Others Through Organizational Change” Workshop

Participants attending this workshop will have the opportunity to:

• Increase their understanding of how change is experienced
• Learn the critical pieces need for communication and dialogue about change
• Build capacity to support others through change
• Gain an understanding of what is necessary for leaders when making organizational change successful and tips for implementing organizational change
• Reflect and plan for a change they are part of leading

Leading Change: Initiating The Process

Similar to other aspects of life, change management greatly depends on communication. The way you communicate change directly impacts the way people perceive it.

People need time to discuss and adapt to change in both personal and professional settings. At the organizational level managers sometimes under or overestimate the effects and realities that a given change will bring about.

Many expect that changes will:

• Not be disruptive
• Not cost much
• Be able to be implemented quickly
• Solve organizational problems

In organizations, change is brought about when a problem needs to be fixed or there is a gap. In cases like these, there is a need to advocate change and gain support. Formulate a plan to implement the change and then work on it.

Assigning Roles

As the CEO, manager or team lead, you are in a position of assigning roles and responsibilities or suggesting and encouraging others to play certain roles in the change process. Hence, it is up to you to make realistic predictions. You should consider these two factors while assigning roles in the change process:

1. That the people who are leading the change are in favour of the change
2. That the people leading the change are “suited” in terms of their change orientation to lead others through change.

Barriers To Change

While implementing change, you cannot expect things to go well without any hiccups. Some of the common barriers to change in an organization include:

• Lack of imagination
• Lack of resources (energy, time, money)
• Lack of experience
• Lack of expertise
• Lack of support
• Lack of courage or will
• Fear of the unknown

To learn more about how to lead change, enroll in the workshop today.

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses,visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.

Communicating in an assertive way is a core skill that many people lack. By being assertive, you can stand up for yourself and communicate your point of view without disrespecting others.

It is an effective and diplomatic communication style that is based on mutual respect. By standing up for yourself in a calm and honest manner, you not only respect others but also force them to respect you and the things that matter to you.

Past research has shown that people who are assertive experience less anxiety. When you are freely able to express your opinions and needs, there is less opportunity for frustration to build and create anxiety.

However, the main question that arises here is how can you learn to be more assertive? Many people confuse being assertive with being aggressive about their needs. But, there is a fine line between the two that has to be understood.

At Mediation Services, we have several courses that can help you become a better version of yourself. One of them is to help you become more assertive. Our team of experts work together to help you find a balance between passive and aggressive communication.

Objectives Of The Course

Participants attending this workshop will have the opportunity to:

• Increase their understanding of assertiveness
• Develop a greater understanding of their own individual patterns; passivity, assertiveness, or aggression
• Examine blocks to assertiveness
• Increase their ability to constructively confront others
• Apply assertive communication skills
• Learn and practice tactics for “turning up the heat”
• Identify their own body language and recognize the effect of body language on communication
• Examine barriers to saying “No,” and develop strategies for setting boundaries

What Is Assertive Communication?

Being assertive means exercising the ability to express what is important to you. If you are assertive, you will be able to express your feelings while communicating and behaving in a way which respects and allows the same for the other person.

Individuals who are unable to communicate in an assertive way are at a risk of facing a wide array of potential problems, including anxiety, depression, ill health, increased stress, lack of job-related success and difficulties in relationships.

Some of the main characteristics of assertive behaviour include:

• A collaborative flexible style
• Prioritizing understanding of what is important to both parties.
• Respect the rights of others
• Works to meet the needs of both parties
• Confident, satisfied and optimistic
• Articulates decisions and expressive

Hence, being assertive gives you the best chance of delivering your message while keeping the other party’s interests in mind.

Assertive Behaviour As Compared To Passive Behaviour

If you are passive, your behaviour will come across as extremely shy or overly easy going. While some consider ‘easy going’ a good trait, it is not always the best way to go about things. It is only a matter of time before people in your workplace and in your friends circle will start taking you for granted.

You might routinely find yourself saying that you are good with anything the group decides. This is a typical trait that shows you are trying to avoid conflict. This sounds like a good thing right? Well it’s not. In an attempt to avoid conflict, you might come across as gullible.

On the contrary, if you adopt assertive behaviour you can help others and respect their choice without coming across as someone who is gullible and does not have an opinion.

Assertive Behaviour Compared To Aggressive Behaviour

Sometimes, in an attempt to be more assertive, many individuals end up coming across as aggressive. People who adopt this style come across as bullies who disregard the needs, feelings and opinions of others.

If you are aggressive about your needs, opinions and thoughts you might portray that you feel self-righteous or superior.

Hence, there is a need to find the right balance between being too aggressive and too gullible. That is exactly what our webinar about assertive communication aims to teach you.

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses,visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.

Effective communication is one of the keys to success that many people end up ignoring. Good communication skills are one of the most sought after leadership qualities, yet there is not enough emphasis on effective communication in most organizations.

Studies show that whether you work in business management, patient care or any other service-providing industry, effective communication and teamwork are essential to provide high-quality services.

Nevertheless, communication failures are extremely common leading to inadvertent harm. In addition to having an adverse effect on productivity, miscommunication also puts undue pressure on employees leading to loss of morale, stress and frustration. Moreover, in many cases, employees carry this burden home, which affects their personal lives as well.

Hence, it is imperative for managers and employees to learn effective communication skills. At Mediation Services, we offer courses that allow you to communicate in a better way at work and be more assertive.

In this blog, we have listed some of the topics that we discuss during the courses, as well as the objectives of the ‘Communication at Work’ course. If you struggle with effectively communicating your point, or don’t understand how to engage your employees and leaders in conversations, this course is exactly what you need.

Learning Objectives

Our Communication at Work course is specifically designed to help individuals better understand themselves and bring out the best in others. Based on this, the learning objectives of this course include:

• Help attendees learn a common language that will help them in problem-solving and reaching agreements.
• Provide strategies that help them bring out the best in themselves and others.
• Provide an understanding of what brings out the worst in people.
• Help identify troublesome behaviours which have the potential to be changed.
• Help in dealing with individuals highly resistant to change.
• Identify characteristics that can be accepted as “in the nature” of a person’s style.

Everyone Is Unique

Until now, you might have figured out that there are no exact copies of anyone anywhere in the world. Where there might be a few traits that many people share, no two people think exactly alike.

Everyone’s uniqueness is a result of an extremely complicated interaction among the genetic codes of their parents, nutrition and fitness, chemical substances they have been exposed to before and after they were born, and everything they have learned since they were born.

Our ability to communicate is one of the things that sets us apart from the crowd. Humans just naturally put other people, things, and ideas into clusters or groupings in order to understand them. Their perception of things and the way they communicate depends on the way they were brought up and the circumstances they have had to deal with.

You Should Know Yourself To Communicate Effectively

It is imperative that you develop a comprehensive picture of yourself to understand yourself inside out. Only then will you be able to develop the ability to communicate effectively with the people around you.

The purpose of the aforementioned course is to assist you in understanding your style and the style preferences of others.

Style preferences of each individual emerge based on the following factors:

• A complex mixture of genetic programming
• Various child-rearing practices
• Infinite unplanned life-shaping experiences
• A huge number of intentional learning experiences
• Social-cultural variables
• Nutrition and exposure to chemical substances.

Coping Patterns

Just as everyone has different style preferences and different communication styles, they have different coping patterns as well. Having a thorough understanding of these coping patterns is essential for effective communication.

There are as many styles and as many coping mechanisms as there are people. Nevertheless, based on together perceptual habits and preferred coping patterns, we can identify four clusters of perceptual/coping patterns by means of which style can be identified. These are:

• Accommodating/Harmonizing
• Analyzing/Preserving
• Achieving/Directing
• Affiliating/Perfecting

Others Are NOT Like You

It is a self-defeating trap thinking that everyone ‘is just like you’. It is important that you go beyond simply recognizing and resigning yourself to the style differences among people. This holds for everyone whether they are coworkers, bosses, friends, or outsiders. The entire global community needs to travel beyond mere “tolerance of our differences.” We need to reach a place where we can respect and appreciate our uniqueness/diversity. It is the right thing to do.

Hence, to effectively communicate at work, you need to understand and appreciate style differences.

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses, visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.

Conflict can be scary, daunting and frustrating. However, as much as you want to avoid conflict, you will find yourself entangled in a disagreement or a conflict at your workplace or home.

According to a recent survey by Psychometrics Canada, almost all HR professionals deal with conflict in the workplace. The study group in this survey consisted of 350 Human Resource (HR) professionals, and 99% of them reported that they have had to deal with resolving conflict.

Some of the common causes of workplace conflict include:

• Personality clashes (86%)
• Poor leadership (73%)
• Lack of honesty (67%)
• Stress (64%)
• Clashing values (59%)

Out of the interviewed HR professionals, 76% have seen conflict result in personal insults and attacks, and 43% have witnessed someone being fired. 81% reported that conflict led to someone leaving the organization, and 77% reported that conflict resulted in sickness or absence.

These alarming figures are enough to alert CEOs and leaders that improperly managed conflict can result in significant problems for the organization. At this point, it is imperative to understand that human interactions and conflicts go hand in hand. When individuals with differing personalities, needs, experiences, and perceptions live or work together, disagreements and conflicts are inevitable.

Hence, there is a dire need to understand and learn the best practices that can help in conflict resolution. As mediation experts and conflict resolution trainers, we believe that it is up to us to help you understand what workplace conflict is and how it can adversely affect your organization.

For this, we also provide workshops and public training. If you are interested in learning more about conflict resolution, sign up for our asynchronous webinar on conflict resolution.

Objectives Of The Webinar

Participants who decide to attend this webinar will:

• Learn how to respond to difficult people and resolve conflict by exploring personal case studies.
• Learn the required skills to deal with conflict and people who are not ready to compromise.
• Learn how to proactively engage and resolve conflict.
• Learn how to clear up misunderstandings.
• Learn the process of recovering from mistakes.

Conflict Is Predictable

As daunting and frustrating as conflict is, in most cases, it is predictable. If you have the necessary awareness, you can easily identify the common and predictable patterns each conflict has.

Conflict is the foremost crisis in human interaction. When conflict occurs, it destabilizes a person’s experience of both self and others. Thus, the parties involved feel both more vulnerable and more self-absorbed than before the conflict occurred.

Since most individuals are taught that disagreement and conflict are wrong, they end up approaching these situations rather aggressively. Hence, while resolving conflict, it is important to keep in mind that both parties feel vulnerable and hence, will approach the situation in an aggressive manner.

How To Deal With Conflict

Before learning to deal with conflict, it is important to understand that our beliefs influence our perceptions of a situation, our actions, and ultimately the consequences or results of these interactions.

This is the conflict cycle. The key to interaction is the belief that conflict is a natural and inevitable part of life and the realization that it is primarily our actions and reactions to these challenges that determine whether the situation will have constructive or destructive results.

Commonly, people have the following beliefs about conflict:

• Conflict is bad.
• If one raises objections, they will be despised.
• A good person avoids conflict.
• If one gives in, they are weak.

However, it is time for us to shift the paradigm and learn that conflict is okay. It is a natural and inevitable part of human life. Conflict is neither good nor bad; what makes it frustrating and scary is our reaction and response.

This is the approach that we take in our conflict resolution webinar. We perform several activities that help you learn more about yourself and your reactions. This way, you will be able to perform better when resolving conflicts.

About Us

Mediation Services in Winnipeg offers training programs to help you learn mediation and leadership skills. We conduct online zoom and asynchronous webinars for different issues. Such modules will help you to improve your communication and solve family, workplace, and personal conflicts. To check out our training courses, visit this link here or contact us for further assistance.