Dealing with Difficult People

Course Overview

The ‘dealing with difficult people’ training course covers strategies and techniques to manage difficult people and behaviour, producing positive outcomes. Acquire practical skills for dealing with challenging behaviour in business situations and the workplace. The program outline is up to date and pertinent to marketplace requirements, thus catering well to all analytical prediction of training needs in the specified area. A customised proposal can also be arranged, to suit the training requirements of your team.

Who Should Attend?

Individuals wishing to acquire an insight into why people behave in challenging ways and develop strategies and techniques to deal with difficult people and behaviour at work.

Program Outline

Understanding behaviour and what makes behaviour difficult

• What is behaviour
• Current behavioural challenges
• What causes difficult behaviour
• Factors affecting our behaviour and how attitudes are formed
• Communication misunderstanding
• Presentation, small group exercise, facilitated group discussion

Building a toolkit for dealing with difficult behaviour

• Introducing the ‘Difficult Behaviour’ Toolkit
• Current behaviour management strategies and techniques
• Facilitated group discussion

Different behaviour types and how to deal with them

• Appreciating the impact of the different styles of behaviour on each other
• Strategies for responding  to different behaviour styles
• Resolving conflict in a constructive way
• Facilitator presentation, small group exercise, facilitated group review

Using assertive communication

• Steps to becoming more assertive
• Using assertive language
• Finding ways of saying ‘no’
• Importance and impact of our non-verbal language
• Facilitator demonstration, pairs exercise, Metaplanning exercise and facilitated group review

Handling and defusing conflict and emotions

• Our reactions to conflict and difficult behaviour
• Conflict styles questionnaire -Thomas Kiln Model
• Summary of conflict styles
• Defusing difficult emotions, particularly anger
• Individual questionnaire, presentation, pairs practice exercise, facilitation

Giving Constructive Feedback

• Importance of feedback
• Guiding principles for giving feedback
• Group exercise, presentation, pairs practice exercise

Practice sessions

• Review of ‘Difficult Behaviour’ toolkit
• Selecting behaviour management strategies and techniques for participant’s own difficult situation
• Group review, small group practice sessions with feedback

Action planning and reflection

• Review of learning and action planning, course feedback
• Individual reflection and action planning exercise, facilitated group review

  The dealing with difficult people training will be supported with:

• An optional participant pre-course questionnaire and/or pre-course reading on dealing with challenging behaviour effectively
• A colour printed workbook with behavioural management tips, techniques and space for personal notes

Program Objectives

By the end of this one day training course, the participants will have:

• Considered the causes of challenging behaviour
• Recognised different behaviour types and how to deal with them
• Learnt techniques to deal with difficult or angry people
• Delivered feedback assertively
• Identified the best strategies for addressing a current difficult behaviour