Coaching & Workshops
A facilitated session for two people whose working relationship has broken down, plus practical coaching for the manager stuck in the middle. Handled early this is a conversation. Handled late it is a resignation or a complaint.
Why it matters
Two people avoiding each other reroutes work, splits the team into camps, and consumes the manager's attention. Everyone can see it, nobody names it, and the cost never appears on any report.
It usually does not need HR and it very rarely needs a policy. What it needs is a structured conversation with someone neutral in the room, which is precisely what nobody internally can be.
What the session covers
In the room
Privately and without judgment. Most of the time the two accounts differ more than either person realises.
Facilitated, bounded, and aimed at how they will work together rather than at who was right.
A short written agreement and a check-in date. Without those, the session is a nice afternoon that changes nothing.
Signs you need this
By the time a manager raises this externally it has usually been running for months and at least one of the two is quietly looking at other jobs.
If two or three of these are true you are past the point where it resolves on its own. None of them are unusual, and all of them are cheaper to fix than to wait out.
Sound familiar
Afterward
Specific, written, and agreed by both, rather than a promise to be more professional.
No more refereeing, and a clear line on what they will and will not mediate in future.
Which is usually the larger cost and the one nobody has been counting.
How it runs
The two individuals, separately then together, plus a preparatory and a follow-up conversation with their manager.
Sessions run on site or virtually, and they are built around situations attendees bring rather than case studies from a textbook. You get a fixed fee before we start, and the person who scopes it is the person who delivers it.
Practicalities
Questions
It is facilitated resolution rather than formal mediation. If the situation involves a grievance, harassment allegation or anything protected, it belongs with HR and counsel, and we will say so immediately.
Then we work with the manager on the options, which are real but narrower. A forced session with an unwilling participant does more harm than good.
The content of individual conversations stays private. The agreement and whether it is being kept are shared with the manager, and everyone knows that going in.
Usually two private sessions of an hour and one joint session of two hours, plus a follow-up.
Sometimes it does not, and then you have a documented, good-faith attempt at resolution, which matters if it later becomes a formal process.
Then this may be a performance or conduct matter rather than a conflict, and we would tell you that after the private conversations rather than run a session that implies false equivalence.
Yes, though the joint session works better in person if that is practical. Reading the room matters more here than in most sessions.
Usually within a week or two. This is one where waiting genuinely makes it harder.
Related
Conflict festers fastest in teams where nobody says anything.
Getting People to Speak Up →Senior-led, delivered by the person you meet
Describe the situation and we will tell you whether this is the right instrument. No obligation, and we will say if one of the others fits better.
Tell us what is going on