Conflict management and negotiation is an interactive, scenario-based training session designed to equip front-facing officers with techniques, skills and knowledge to understand, prevent, and safely diffuse challenging behaviour.
The intent is for customer-facing colleagues to directly improve service delivery by communicating effectively first time, leading to improved performance, increased tenant satisfaction (TSM’s), and by minimising formal complaints.
With reference to published reports around stigma, attitudes, respect and rights; effective and respectful landlord communications; and Housing Ombudsman good practice on relationship management, this course explores the nature, types, and root causes of conflict and what we can learn.
The session concludes with a reflection on key takeaways and strategies to apply and develop.
What will I learn?
By shifting from negative, escalatory behaviours toward proactive, empathetic communication, housing teams will be able to:
- Understand the types of conflict, the root causes and triggers within a social housing context
- Explore the evolution of the landlord-tenant relationship and the perceived power imbalance
- Use language, tone and emotional intelligence to rebalance relationships, adapt to different situations and people and create a positive culture
- Review sector guidance, reports and regulatory expectations to understand the landscape, challenges and opportunities
- Develop new and existing skills and behaviours to prevent and diffuse conflict, and manage escalation
- Be confident to safely steer tense situations to negotiation and positive outcomes
Who should attend?
This course is suitable for housing officers, assistants, team leaders and all customer facing colleagues.
The course is also a benefit to those managing service delivery, working in policy development and learning and development teams.
Benefits of attending
At CIH we want to provide everyone in housing with the knowledge, skills, and behaviours to communicate effectively, connecting empathetic relationship management to:
- Improve performance in all areas of service delivery and staff confidence in negotiation
- Create a positive culture of fairness and respect to improve outcomes and reputation
- Improve tenant satisfaction levels (TSM’s)
- Reduce formal complaints
- Improving staff confidence, competence and well-being.
Mark Barrow has worked in social housing in both general needs and supported housing for over 20 years specialising in core areas including the delivery of ASB services, housing management, building positive relationships with tenants, and managing conflict. Mark has recently set up and managed a formal complaints structure with a housing provider – increasing tenant satisfaction across five consecutive quarters, effective communication remaining an ongoing passion.
Mark is also an experienced trainer spending the last eight years delivering training and social housing apprenticeships as well as tailored training sessions.
Mark aims to deliver relaxed and informal training sessions, aiming to be fully inclusive and above all enjoyable for all. Mark has received excellent feedback from all levels of staff and management both online and face-to-face and always looks to tailor his sessions to the needs of those attending and to individual organisations and their values.
How to book
Individuals
You can book your place in a few simple steps:
- Select ‘Pay now’ to start your booking
- Sign in or create a My CIH account (see instructions below)
- Have your payment details ready:
- Credit or debit card if paying yourself
- If your organisation is paying, have a purchase order number ready
- Complete the online form and submit your booking.
To pay, you’ll need a My CIH account.
- New to My CIH? Visit My CIH page and click Sign up now to follow the steps. You can also follow our step-by-step guide
- Already have an account? Just sign in with your email and password as usual.
Having trouble logging in or creating your account? Read our guide or contact our customer services team:
Multiple delegate bookings
We welcome organisations who want to work with the CIH Housing Academy to provide training to their workforce. If you'd like to know more about possible discounts for multiple bookings of training courses or qualifications please contact us on 024 7685 1700 or email partnerships@cih.org.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about our training courses or want to speak with a member of our team, we’re here to help. We can guide you through the next steps and provide any additional information you need.
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