Frequently Asked Questions

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How much does it cost to hire Seattle Conflict Resolution?

You can expect to pay $1,800 to $3,200 for less than 30 employees. That includes a discovery phase (interviewing managers, possibly an employee survey); operations upgrades, as needed; full team training and situation practice with the issues common to your setting; and a post-intervention coaching session.

The rough incident we had is unlikely to happen again. How necessary is it to do conflict resolution consulting after-the-fact?

The fear of another incident continues to impact people’s capacity, even if another incident is unlikely. It erodes trust, even if it was handled well. Without professional debriefing, team members are eager to assign blame (possibly to management, the customers, etc). To prevent loss of goodwill, managers need to appear proactive in addressing even unlikely threats to safety. Providing a new playbook and hands-on practice is a necessary re-set.

I can handle this stuff based on years of experience, and know my customers better than anyone. Why should I trust an outsider to train my team?

We don’t give each team the same content, because we use your code of conduct, operating guidelines, workplace situations, etc. If you don’t have these articulated, we’ll help you do that. Most managers earn their customer service chops through hundreds of interactions and already have these elements. This does not make them great trainers, however. Allow us to translate your ideals into clear standards, solid on-boarding, policies, and updates for your whole team delivered by professional trainers.

We don’t really have regular “office hours” or openings when all of the team is together. How would we even schedule this?

We’re used to weird hours. Whether we’re showing up at shift change, offering on-line asynchronous tools, or splitting up a 2 hour training into three shorter sessions, we will work around your needs and prefer to train at your service space before or after the customers are there so we can integrate real-life scenarios into each session.

It’s only a few people on the team who are the issue. Can you just work with them?

Yes, we offer tension mitigation. We may work with your HR professional or recommend one to assure employment law is followed closely as conflict handled poorly is often a performance issue. Unfortunately, by the time we’re called in, typically the tension has already bled into everyone else’s workplace. Then we recommend addressing the main actors separately while offering a whole team agreement and training to reset the workplace culture.

Some of our customers are, well, older. They can be disrespectful of younger staff or even flirty. Is that covered? And what about drunk customers?

Yes, whether you’re operating a bar, doctor’s office, or apartment complex, the communication style difference between the digital and Baby Boomer generations is a real issue. Our management coaching and team training includes a basic overview of the difference between power, rank, and status; you will learn how to honor your customer’s dignity and interrupt bad behavior.

We know our client wants to provide a harassment-free workplace. We can help you realize this, despite the fact that women often under-report this behavior. We will practice the situations you want the most support on so everyone leaves with real-life skills and your female-identified staff know they can count on co-workers to intervene. And yes, these techniques have been successfully tested on many people who are chemically enhanced.

Things are bad NOW, is this something we can do quickly?

You are so smart to want to address this QUICKLY! The impact of delaying support when your team is in crisis is costly in terms of morale and lost productivity. As such, we offer quick scheduling and optional support and instant anonymous assessment tools.

How do I assure new hires get access to these tools without having to do another all-team training?

We have an online training session in development. In fact, we are actively recruiting a beta-test employer who will get a killer deal in testing this interactive e-course. Otherwise, join our newsletter so you will know when that product is accessible to our clients. We will also add a training specifically for your supervisors so you can add the scenario practice sessions after your new hires have completed the e-course.