Conflict Management - Sadia's Story

Case Study - Before

Sadia deals face-to-face with the general public in the customer services industry. The vast majority of people she deals with are polite and she is able to deal with any issues they have. However on occasions some customers are angry and very confrontational, this has sometimes lead to threats and the possibility of physical violence if security had not intervened. Sadia feels a lack of control over the situation, and has learned over the years that anyone has the potential to get angry very quickly. She wants to be able to calm the situation down by being able to notice the signs of conflict at the earliest opportunity.

Sadia attended our Conflict Management training, on the course she learned the verbal and non-verbal communication signs of conflict, this included body language and facial expressions to notice the stage of conflict. She also studied about a range of communications models and how she could implement a 5 stage process in dealing with conflict, her communication was vital in calming the situation down and these are practical skills she could use immediately.

Case Study - After

Sadia felt far more confident in her ability to manage conflict, she was able to get behind the counter and start dealing with customers again. On a recent occasion a customer was very angry about the mix up of a reservation, she saw instantly the closed posture, eye gaze, drawn together eyebrows and the dilated nostrils even before he had asked a question. She used a level tone throughout and kept her emotions intact.

She used the L.E.A.P.S model of conflict resolution, she carefully listened to what the customer had to say, she emphasised with his problem and asked some questions to get a full picture of what went wrong and why. She was then able to determine the correct course of action and summarised that to the customer. The customer agreed and the conflict was resolved, Sadia learned that this model ensures that the complainant was listened to and that the facts were established.

Benefits

Sadia felt safer in her job and this helped her confidence and reduced her stress levels. She looked at the problems from the customers point of view and was able to act rationally in a difficult situation by implementing an effective plan of action. The organisation benefits as complaints are solved more easily and this looks good on their professionalism.

The course

Conflict Management - Sadia's Story

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