How to employ assertive communication to build relationships and resolve conflict situations

PURPOSE

We certainly want to communicate successfully with our customers. We want to understand their wishes and needs and work with them to find the best solutions.

What about when we come across a ‘difficult‘ interlocutor who demands that we break the rules, make an exception, and similar? They may even accuse us of being unprofessional, of not being good at our work, and similar.

In such situations, we often react intuitively, so we choose a defensive response that can make the interlocutor ‘even more difficult’.

How can we turn defensive responses into non-defensive ones? How can we use assertive behaviour and follow the rules of conflict resolution?

If we know how to communicate well, if we know how to create a good connection and build a relationship, we can calm down the interlocutor, gain their trust and build stronger co-operation.

CONTENT

1. 1. HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH CUSTOMERS

• How do we most often respond in communication with customers?
• What is desirable and what should be avoided?
• What is defensive or intuitive behaviour?
• Why do we choose aggressive (fight strategy), passive (flight strategy) and passive-aggressive behaviour (manipulation)?
• What are their short-term and long-term effects?
• How to develop assertive communication?

1. 2. BASIC COMMUNICATION TOOLS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION

• Basic communication tools (questioning, statement about oneself, reflection and paraphrasing, external perceptions, facts).

• Three positions and how to respond in a dialogue.
• What to do to understand the interlocutor correctly?
• How to form and share information to calm the interlocutor – so they can listen and understand us.

1. 3. STRUCTURE OF CONVERSATION

• What does it mean to follow and direct the interlocutor?
• How and when do we define the interlocutor’s problem, and how do we resolve it?
• How and when do we focus on the facts?
• When and how do we resolve potential objections, conflicts, attacks, allegations, and similar?
• Objection resolution strategies.
• How and when to conclude the conversation (especially when the conversation is unpleasant).

1. 4. HOW TO CALM AN UPSET PERSON

• When to use reflection and paraphrasing, how to start when we encounter aggressive interlocutors?
• What questions are suitable?
• What communication tools should be used.
• How to apologise (apology on a personal level) and how to express thanks for the information?
• What to do at the end of the conversation?

GOALS – Benefits for participants

• You will accurately identify the defensive behavioural responses used by ‘difficult‘ interlocutors.
• You will learn approaches to respond to a customer’s defensive responses.
• You will learn how to alleviate the customer’s need for defence – how to be calm and understand the customer, so they don’t feel ‘threatened’.
• You will examine the reasons that customers feel ‘threatened‘ and what your role is in such moments.
• You will learn ways to conduct dialogues assertively in such situations.
• You will also learn when and how to set clear boundaries (when the customer condemns, insults, or threatens).
• You will learn ways to calm yourself in such situations so that you can choose the appropriate response.

WORKSHOP

The workshop is organised in person or on-line using various platforms (Zoom, MS Teams). The number of hours per meeting is determined by agreement with the customer.

WORK METHOD

Workshops and trainings consist of: short input sessions, discussions, individual, pair, and group work.

The techniques I employ aim to encourage participants to apply what they have learned to their daily routine immediately.

DURATION

Our basic programmes comprise 16 academic hours, while shorter programmes last 8 academic hours (these programmes involve fewer exercises and practical examples). We recommend a minimum of 24 academic hours if you seek to train your employees thoroughly.

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS

The recommended number of participants per workshop is 20; and 10 per training session. The client may, of course, opt for a larger number of participants. In this case, a training session becomes a workshop, and a workshop becomes a seminar/lecture (over 25 participants).

PRICE

The prices of workshops, training sessions, seminars/lectures depend on their duration, the number of participants, and additional preparation time (i.e., analysing participants’ level of proficiency, designing customised solutions, etc.). The final price is always agreed upon in advance with the client.