Consulting · Team, Leadership & Motivation
Conflict mediation: resolving conflicts once and for all
Once conflicts have escalated beyond a normal level, resolving them on one's own is often exhausting and quickly overwhelms managers and those involved.
What we offer
Conflict mediation: resolving conflicts for good
Read more →All our articles on the subject of conflict
Read more →Conflict: an unavoidable side effect of change processes
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Read more →Conflict escalation: how conflicts grow stage by stage
Read more →Resistance, conflict and crisis
Read more →Taking the emotion out of conflict: a tempting but false solution
Read more →Resolving team conflicts effectively
Read more →Free initial consultation
Read more →Conflicts between managers, team members or departments cost energy
A conflict that has escalated beyond the ordinary rarely resolves itself. Working it out without outside help is exhausting, and it quickly overwhelms the managers and the people involved.
Both sides usually escalate in step with each other, and they do so within a very short space of time. That makes any lasting resolution harder to reach:
- The parties involved very quickly narrow down to a selective perception. They take in only what confirms their existing prejudices about the other side, and they screen out everything else. Each side therefore feels justified in what it does, and an escalating spiral takes hold.
- Both sides pour a great deal of energy into the conflict. That energy is now tied up there and no longer available elsewhere.
- Events no longer play out at the level of factual argument, and what happens has slipped out of rational control.
Conflict mediation is a focused and effective way to work through conflicts in a team and resolve them. No single person, though, can change the climate in a group for good on their own. It also takes a basic willingness on the part of the other parties to face the conflict and work on it.
The following basic conditions must be met for conflicts to be effectively addressed:
- Everyone involved needs to share the awareness that conflicts are actually present.
- There needs to be a fundamental willingness on all sides to work through the existing conflicts.
- The parties involved must have a genuine interest in resolving the conflicts.
Resolving conflicts for good — through conflict mediation
Our proven method for resolving conflicts in teams and organisations builds the willingness to face up to the conflict, and no one is shown up in the process. In our workshops on resolving conflicts in teams
- the root causes of the conflict are worked out and made explicit
- you sort out the positions, the interests and the needs of everyone involved, so that
- you come to understand the deeper motives of the party on the other side
- narrowed views of the other parties are opened up and perspectives become more flexible again
- participants come to understand their own part in the conflict, and how they can avoid it in future
- participants learn to talk to one another constructively again
- you widen your range of options for action (as a team member or as a manager)
- the parties work out approaches together that will hold up over the long term
Solutions for every kind of conflict
In our conflict resolution workshops we work out durable solutions for conflicts between
How we work in conflict mediation
Drawing out the issues in dispute
Opening up the points of contention
Recognising and drawing out the interests behind the stated positions and demands
Joint search for potential solutions
Reviewing and evaluating the potential solutions
Building bridges over emotional obstacles
Reaching an agreement
Support and follow up on implementation
Proven methods from our conflict resolution workshops (a selection)
01
Mediation
Mediation is a structured procedure, and it typically runs through five phases:
- Opening the session and explaining how it will run
- Gathering the issues and the different views of the case
- Bringing the background into view: what is the real conflict behind the conflict? Which interests and needs do the parties actually have?
- Developing potential solutions
- Agreement and a final settlement — put in writing for the sake of clarity.
This works much like mediation, with one addition: one-to-one conversations with the individual parties can be held in advance, and again between the sessions themselves ("shuttle diplomacy").
02
The Harvard method
A method that has resolved deeply entrenched conflicts even in international politics. The basic principles of the Harvard method are these:
- 01
Separate the people from the problem
- 02
Focus on the interests, and set the stated positions aside
- 03
Look for options ("enlarging the pie you share")
- 04
Agree the criteria the decision will be based on
- 05
Keep your BATNA in view throughout ("Best Alternative To Non-Agreement")
03
Conflict mapping
Visualising helps. The issues in the conflict and the parties to it are set out graphically in relation to one another. That view from above on what is happening releases new insight and opens up a fresh look at the options for a solution.
This format has proven very effective in other situations:
- The parties first work separately and write down their own position: where does it hurt, and which are our — or my — "pain points"?
- The parties then come together in one room. Each side sets out its own position, while the other side does nothing at first but listen.
- As this happens, the facilitator builds an inventory of the substantive questions to be settled.
- The group then works out solutions to those questions together.
Where the conflict sits inside a team, we run dedicated workshops: "Conflicts in teams / resolving team conflicts". You also get a free initial consultation with us, including a first assessment and some initial approaches to a solution.
Your benefits
Constructive clarifications
We know the pitfalls that come with working out durable solutions, and we steer around them
Lasting solutions
We keep the focus on durable solutions. Anything else would be a waste of time.
Strengthening the organisation
Your company or organisation builds a lasting, practised ability to handle conflict
Confidence
A proven approach to resolving conflicts
We are a team of experienced conflict mediators and change managers, and we run our conflict resolution workshops nationwide.
What our clients value in us
A systemic approach
Conflicts usually have several causes at once. Looking at individual factors on their own rarely goes far enough to bring about lasting change
The art of asking the right question
Questions that fit the situation, and sometimes approach it from an unexpected angle — questions that open up new perspectives and move the group's thinking forward
The ability to reflect back what is happening in the group
Resistance, structures, hidden connections…
Instinct
For what can be read between the lines and has not (yet) been said out loud
A wide range of methods
A varied programme that fits the moment wakes up tired minds and lifts the energy of the whole group — which counts for a great deal in situations marked by conflict
Consistent visualisation
So that everyone can see the state of play at any time
Direction in the right measure
Sometimes it simply takes the right questions at the right moment to bring new insight to the surface
Impartiality
We stay neutral throughout and adopt no one's position. What we do instead is both challenge and support the parties as they resolve their problem
What we offer for resolving conflicts
Are you looking for support in resolving conflicts in your company or your organisation? We create solutions that last and that hold.
Book a free initial consultation.
We have more than 21 years of experience in conflict management, and we would be glad to advise you.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is a conflict resolution workshop?
Who is a conflict resolution workshop suitable for?
What topics are covered?
How long does a workshop last?
Which methods do you use?
Can the workshop be adapted to our needs?
What are the benefits of a conflict resolution workshop?
Further reading
Konfliktmuster: Wiederkehrende Konfliktkonstellationen in Change-Prozessen
Change-Konflikte sind kein Zufall. Sie folgen Mustern — Zumutungen, Verlustangst, junge Wilde gegen alte Fürsten. Wer sie vorhersieht, hält die Kosten klein.
Artikel lesen →Konfliktfähigkeit: Mut zur klärenden Auseinandersetzung
Konflikte lösen sich nicht durch Schweigen. Wie Sie Störungen früh ansprechen, gleichwertig bleiben und zu einer Lösung führen, die auch hält.
Artikel lesen →Innere Vorbereitung: Der Schlüssel zu erfolgreichen Konfliktgesprächen
Warum die gelernte Methodik im Ernstfall verpufft — und wie innere Vorbereitung nach William Ury Sie aus dem Sieg-Niederlage-Denken holt. Sechs Bausteine.
Artikel lesen →Konfliktkosten: Der ökonomische Preis von Grabenkriegen und Harmoniesucht
Konflikte kosten nicht nur Nerven, sondern Geld — je höher in der Hierarchie, desto teurer. Warum auch übergroße Harmonie ruinös wird und wie sich der Schaden beziffern lässt.
Artikel lesen →What our clients say
Clients on working with us
You prepared our workshop thoroughly and precisely. Both the method and the facilitation fitted our objectives very well. The results gave us a great deal to build on. Many thanks.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with you, personally and professionally, and it was a great pleasure to run this workshop with you.
A big thank you for facilitating the workshop. We came out of the day as a team, with a good sense of togetherness and a clearer picture of the way ahead. The workshop was well worth it.
The feedback on your facilitation in particular was very positive. Several people with a lot of workshop experience told me they had come with fairly low expectations and left extremely pleasantly surprised.
Everyone was very happy with your facilitation. The agreements we reached together are working wonders. The team workshop did us a great deal of good.
I always enjoy working with professionals — many thanks for facilitating so purposefully.
Many thanks again for the excellent collaboration, the organisation and the very good workshop results.
Your attentive, well-grounded facilitation and the inspiration you brought helped us a great deal. The team was impressed too.
We are more than happy with the result. Thank you again for your very good work. We would like to work with you again.
A very helpful, well-run workshop. The results served us well through the restructuring phase too.
It was striking how much came out of our workshop. That was outstanding.
I am very happy with the consulting. The workshop moved us a long way forward. Thank you.
Free initial consultation
Let's talk.
We have more than 21 years of experience and are glad to advise you. Book your free initial consultation and we will get back to you.