What’s the return on investment in conflict coaching for you, your organization, or your relationship?
I’ve written a new briefing that describes the circumstances in which conflict typically has the greatest toll in business, on careers, and in personal relationships. Then it describes the quantitative (dollars and time) and qualitative (quality of relationship, work experience, and decision making) returns offered by top-notch conflict coaching in those circumstances.
Here’s an excerpt:
Conflict coaching and coaches
Conflict coaching is about accelerated change in the way a person manages or performs in conflict situations, advocacy, and problem-solving at work or home.
It’s a specialty within executive, performance, and life coaching. Ideally, conflict coaches have extensive experience with and education in conflict and its resolution, human behavior, communication, and interpersonal dynamics. If offering workplace conflict coaching, the conflict coach should also be seasoned in addressing conflict in organizational and business settings and systems.
What to look for in a conflict coach
Good conflict coaches do share certain skills with counselors, including:
- A calm, non-judgmental presence.
- Keen listening skills .
- Ability to ask the right questions .
- Ability to reframe problems into possibilities .
- The right balance between challenge and support.
But the intention with which those skills are used is quite different. Coaching is not counseling.
While counseling or therapy traditionally involve diagnosis, pathology, and a professional considered to be an expert in what ails you, conflict coaching is about accelerated performance improvement with a professional who serves as your partner, guide and personal teacher.
Conflict coaching participants often describe the coaching experience as “therapeutic” in the restorative sense of unloading a burden, getting unstuck, and setting an effective course for the future.
Conflict coaching lives at the intersection of conflict resolution, masterful teaching, and expertise in performance improvement. Your coach should be skilled and seasoned in all three.
When coaching creates value
How do you know if someone is coachable? Allow me to suggest a better question, since coachability is a continuum, not an either/or:
In what circumstances will coaching be of high value?
If you like what you have read so far and are interested in reading this briefing in its entirety, you can get it for free here: The Case for Conflict Coaching: A Briefing.
