Managing conflicts and improving team relationships: introduction to the Art of Compassionate Communication

As this is an introductory module, no prerequisites are needed to participate in this training.

Upon completion of this Compassionate Communication training for businesses, employees, managers, and leaders will be able to:

• Apply constructive and respectful language, avoiding negative judgments and non-constructive criticism, suitable for the professional environment.
• Clarify and direct their intentions in professional interactions to promote effective and respectful communication.
• Improve the quality of professional relationships by:
  • Making objective and factual observations in the work context.
  • Clearly identifying and communicating our own professional feelings and needs.
  • Recognizing and validating the feelings and needs of colleagues and collaborators.
  • Formulating concrete, realistic, and positive requests, aligned with professional goals.
• Strengthen their active listening and empathy skills to better understand and respond to relational challenges in the workplace.
• Listen beyond words to grasp the underlying emotions and needs in professional interactions.
• Prevent and manage workplace conflicts in a constructive and calming manner.
• Communicate with authenticity and efficiency, thus promoting a collaborative and respectful work environment.
• Contribute to improving the organizational climate and team efficiency through more harmonious and respectful communication.

Conflicts, misunderstandings, inefficiencies, fear of being oneself, and tensions at work...

In the professional environment, many workers, managers, and leaders face stress, intimidation, fear of others' judgment, reluctance to confront conflicts, obstacles to expressing emotions constructively, and difficulties in setting boundaries appropriately and timely.
In this context, communication problems often emerge as a key factor exacerbating these challenges. A combination of misunderstandings and "miscommunications" generates tension and conflicts within teams, leading to feelings of isolation and misunderstanding among individuals, sources of dissatisfaction and disengagement.

Without clear and respectful communication, problems multiply, creating obstacles to fruitful collaboration and a healthy work environment.

How to better manage conflicts, and above all, prevent them upfront? How to improve team relationships and create a work atmosphere more conducive to engaging everyone?

Compassionate Communication, inspired by Marshall B. Rosenberg's NonViolent Communication® (NVC®), is an answer to these issues and provides valuable tools for navigating the complex world of professional relationships.

This communication process aims to create harmonious work relationships based on empathy, cooperation, and mutual respect. It is an essential soft skill, allowing for constructively addressing relational challenges in business. Compassionate Communication helps to express clearly one's professional needs and expectations while remaining attentive to those of colleagues and collaborators.

In business, Compassionate Communication enables overcoming the obstacles of aggressive or passive communication, thus fostering authentic and productive dialogue. It is an asset for conflict management, negotiation, leadership, and teamwork improvement. This method enhances managerial skills, improves the organizational climate, and contributes to team effectiveness.

By adopting this approach, managers, leaders, and employees develop a better understanding of their interactions, strengthen their soft skills, and foster a more collaborative and respectful work environment. Each interaction becomes an opportunity to improve communication, strengthen team cohesion, and promote harmonious professional development.

The training takes place over two days and alternates between theoretical contributions, practical exercises, situational scenarios, role-playing, experience sharing, and discussion times. The program unfolds as follows:

• Presentation of Marshall B. Rosenberg (creator of NonViolent Communication® or "NVC®") and his work;
• The pitfalls of usual communication that disconnect us from life (called "alienating communication"), with examples contextualized to the professional world. Presentation of the giraffe and the jackal, two animals representing two ways of communicating;
• Understand how our intention influences our interactions with colleagues and impacts the work climate;
• Learn to reprogram our communication habits and express ourselves through the 4 key differentiations of the NVC® process:
  • Making objective Observations, free of evaluations, judgments, or interpretations.
  • How to recognize, name, and welcome our Feelings, including those behind masked evaluations, contributing to the development of emotional intelligence.
  • Understanding and identifying our professional Needs and distinguishing them from the means put in place to satisfy them.
  • Learning to formulate concrete Requests (not "wishes" or demands) that promote professional collaboration and mutual understanding.
• Practical application of these concepts, including the distinction between needs and requests, and how to adapt them to professional language (the "street giraffe").

• Theoretical inputs
• Practical exercises
• Situational scenarios
• Role-playing
• Experience sharing
• Discussion times
• Course Syllabus
• PowerPoint presentation
• Illustrative videos
• Selection of reference books

• Exercises allow participants to assess their mastery as they progress.
• An evaluation questionnaire is offered at the end of the training for indicative purposes.

A certificate of attendance will be issued at the end of the session

As part of this training, you will receive the following educational material:

• A 3-fold leaflet from the Association for NonViolent Communication® in Belgium, including the steps of the NVC® process and lists of feelings and needs.
• The presentation slides.
• A training syllabus outlining the training and exercises.

It will also be possible to acquire literature and educational material related to NVC®. Possibility of coaching sessions or personalized follow-up after the training.