Workshops & custom training

In addition to our other services such as coaching, facilitation, mediation, and team/group intervention, Fifth House Group offers a variety of workshops and customized training solutions to suit the specific needs of our clients. We can help you develop skills that will:

• improve your communication 
• help you to better understand your own triggers and processes when faced interpersonal difficulties
• navigate difficult conversations
• prevent conflict
• work through conflict when it does occur
• repair partnerships negatively affected by conflict
• heal and restore teams and groups that have been impacted by conflict, and
• develop or upgrade your leadership skills.

Investing in training allows individuals, teams, groups and organizations to become their own problem-solvers (and problem-preventers), saving time, money and reducing stress over long term.

The following workshops were developed specifically for people working in any of the creative arts industries (click on a title for complete description): 

• Understanding Yourself in Conflict 
• Decoding Difficult Conversations
• Essential Conflict Prevention Skills
• Advanced Conflict Prevention Skills 
• Managing Conflict 
• Conflict Resolution Skills (Basic) 
• Conflict Resolution Skills (Advanced)
• Basic Integrative Negotiation Skills 
• Disarming Hardball Negotiation Tactics 
• Accountability and Creative Teams 
• Response-Ability 
• Feedback That Works: Improving Individual Performance
• Leadership Skills Assessment 
• Maximizing Team Roles 
• Conflict Response Roles Inventory™ “Train the Trainer” 
• Communicating More Effectively 

Some components of these workshops can be adapted to accommodate those with limited time availability. Training can also be combined to create more comprehensive programmes customized for the individual, team, or organisation. We can tailor any of these courses to your particular learning needs and develop training specifically for your situation.

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Understanding Yourself in Conflict (1/2 day)

This workshop is based on the Conflict Response Roles Inventory (CR2I) ™, a psychometric instrument designed to help you understand what needs are triggered for you when in conflict, how you typically respond to this, and why.  Participants will complete the CR2I™ to gain in-depth knowledge of their own inner processes when faced with conflict, and will learn how to use this awareness to work towards a more successful outcome.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Determine your conflict response roles by completing a self-assessment inventory
• Analyze the 5 conflict response roles and their interactions
• Use or adapt your own conflict response role(s) more effectively and consciously in conflict situations. 

 

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Decoding Difficult Conversations (1/2 day)

What gets said in heated conversations seldom tells the full story.  This workshop will help you to listen beyond the words that are being used and identify where the real issue lies.  Based on the theory that there are actually three separate conversations going on at the same time (even though we only hear one), participants will gain skills that will help them to decode underlying information to their advantage.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Distinguish three conversations contained in a single “difficult” conversation
• Listen actively to encourage mutual empathy and understanding. 
• Analyze difficult conversations to discover underlying needs and manage or resolve conflicts more effectively.

 

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Essential Conflict Prevention Skills (1 day)

This workshop will give participants all of the essential skills that are needed in order to prevent difficult discussions or disagreements from turning into conflict.  If you don’t know exactly what you should say/not say, or do/not do in order to manage challenging situations towards a positive and productive outcome, then this workshop is highly recommended. 

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Listen actively to encourage mutual empathy and understanding. 
• Analyze the role of feelings, needs and strategies in conflict situations.
• Ensure their self-expression is aligned with intentions to generate the desired impact.

 

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Advanced Conflict Prevention Skills (1 day)

In this workshop participants will acquire advanced skills in managing the outcome of difficult discussions and disagreements.   Once the conversation has occurred and is looking like it will have a positive result – what needs to happen in order to make sure the situation doesn’t fall off the rails moving forward?   All this and more is covered in this workshop.  Note: Essential Conflict Prevention Skills (or equivalent) is a prerequisite for this workshop. 

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Creating sustainable informal agreements to contain and manage conflict.
• Follow up and evaluate the success of informal agreements.
• Where appropriate, develop an action plan to ensure the surrounding team/group environment is healthy moving forward

 

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Managing Conflict (1 day)

This workshop examines how to manage conflict, starting exploring the difference between conflict management and conflict resolution. Participants will also differentiate between Disagreement, Conflict, and Harassment, which are often used interchangeably but in fact require different methods of management.  Using an analytical tool, participants will learn how to assess a situation in order to determine the next best course of action.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Distinguish levels of conflict and determine the appropriate management techniques.
• Differentiate conflict management and conflict resolution.
• Apply assessment criteria to evaluate a conflict situation and identify an appropriate course of action.

 

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Conflict Resolution Skills (Basic) (2 days)

This course focuses on how to resolve conflict once it has occurred. Participants will learn all the fundamental skills and techniques of conflict resolution that can be applied in any type of situation.   (Note:  Conflict prevention is covered in Essential and Advanced Conflict Prevention Skills)  

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to: 

• Use two guiding principles to keep a conflict from escalating.
• Apply specific techniques in order to navigate the emotional climate.
• Defuse anger in others to allow a conflict to be managed or resolved safely.

 

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Conflict Resolution Skills (Advanced) (1 day)

This course focuses on advanced skills and techniques necessary for working through more complex conflict situations.  Topics such as managing an impasse, power imbalances, and high levels of emotions will be covered, and participants will learn how to act as neutral third-parties for when their assistance is required. Note:  Conflict Resolution Skills (Basic) or equivalent training is a prerequisite for this workshop.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to: 

• Assess and manage imbalances of power inherent in a conflict situation.
• Identify and choose appropriate courses of action when impasses occur.
• Provide third-party assistance in situations of conflict between others.

 

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Basic Integrative Negotiation Skills (1 day)

Most negotiations are conducted like contests that result in one winner and one loser, or they end in compromises where everyone is forced to give up something. In either case it can leave the parties feeling dissatisfied not only with the outcome of the negotiation, but also with the relationship itself. Over the long term this can make it unnecessarily stressful if (or when) they must work together again. Beginning with the premise that most every interaction in life involves negotiation, this hands-on workshop uses extensive role-plays and negotiation scenarios to develop immediately practical negotiation skills.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Compare and contrast common negotiation styles.
• Define and apply four principles of integrative negotiation.
• Use the parties’ interests to generate creative solutions.
• Identify and apply standards of fairness to ensure mutually acceptable outcomes.

 

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Disarming Hardball Negotiation Tactics (1/2 day)

You’ve learned to apply the principles of integrative negotiation but you run into a negotiator who doesn’t play by the same rules.  What do you do – how do you keep from getting strong-armed into an unwise decision by distributive (win-lose) tactics? This workshop will provide insight into how and why some negotiators rely on old-school, hardball negotiation plays – and how to overcome them. (Note: Basic integrative Negotiation Skills is a recommended prerequisite.)

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Analyze factors that influence the outcome of a negotiation.
• Identify common distributive negotiation tactics.
• Apply counter-strategies to disarm them.

 

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Accountability and Creative Teams (1/2 day)

Even the most promising teams, comprised of high-performing individuals, can be derailed by a lack of accountability. This workshop explores the common reasons teams fail and provides strategies for ensuring that teams remain on-course and focused on the objectives without devolving into blame-storming.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Identify barriers to accountability and team effectiveness.
• Establish an environment conducive to accountability.
• Apply simple tools and techniques to enhance accountability among team members.
• Recommend and implement strategies to accelerate teams through the stages of development.

 

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Response-Ability (1/2 day)

Based on a behavioural model developed by Dean Curtis, this workshop helps participants understand and manage their own internal processes with the goal of increasing leadership both in their own lives and within their teams or organisations. The workshop is premised on the work of Victor Frankl and his insight that “between thought and action lies the power to choose.” Response-Ability can greatly reduce the stress that comes with a vast array of daily life situations, decision-making, and conflict.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Differentiate responses from reactions.
• Distinguish “above-the-line” from “below-the-line” behaviours and processes.
• Apply a model of “Response-Ability” to consciously choose attitudes and emotional states on an ongoing basis. 

 

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Feedback That Works: Improving Individual Performance (1/2 day)

Providing effective feedback is an acquired skill, and ensuring necessary course-correction is an even more elusive one. This half-day workshop is aimed at managers, supervisors, and any professionals who need to provide coaching or feedback to employees, students, or team members. The technique is also applicable to others in day-to-day situations where a change in someone else’s behaviour – from simply showing up on time to rehearsals or participating more actively in team/group tasks – is the desired result. 

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Avoid “extinction syndrome” and actively promote regular, formative feedback.
• Analyze the reasons most corrective feedback doesn’t “stick.”
• Engage in a five-step conversation to change unwanted behaviours and improve performance.

 

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Leadership Skills Assessment (1/2 day)

We all aspire to be the best we can be, but how do we know where – and how – to start? The purpose of this workshop is to help participants identify areas of current strength, and areas for further development, in their emotional intelligence and leadership abilities. It takes as its point of departure the “unconscious competence” model of skills development.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Identify and assess current leadership skills. 
• Determine any gaps between their actual and desired states.
• Set a learning agenda for further development and reflective practice. 

 

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Maximizing Team Roles (1 day)

Imagine an orchestra with three conductors, or a funk band without a rhythm section: the novelty factor might arouse curiosity, but would you deliberately assemble a group that way for success? Teams are often put together in a way that creates unnecessary conflict, duplicates effort, and underutilizes its members’ individual and combined talents. This workshop explains the unique contributions team members can make beyond their formal, assigned roles, and how to make allowance for their inevitable blind spots in order to maximize the team’s individual and combined performance.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Distinguish the nine team roles, their respective contributions and allowable weaknesses.
• Analyze the composition of a team to identify any role surpluses or voids and its possible consequences.
• Compose a team to optimize the unique strengths of the team roles.

 

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Conflict Response Roles Inventory™ “Train the Trainer” (1 day)

The Conflict Response Roles Inventory (CR2I)™ is a powerful psychometric instrument trusted by hundreds of organizations and thousands of individual users around the world for over a decade. With it, managers, HR professionals and team leaders can help their colleagues and collaborators understand how and why individuals’ behaviours, strategies, and needs contribute to conflict. With the increased self-awareness, users can make critical adjustments to prevent conflict situations from occurring, or manage them more successfully, and sooner, if they do arise.

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Properly contextualize and explain the Conflict Response Roles, how they impact day-to-day conflicts, and their respective contributions to conflict escalation – or management and resolution.
• Administer the Conflict Response Roles Inventory (CR2I)™ to your team, group or organization.
• Assist workshop participants in interpreting their Inventory scores and applying knowledge of conflict response roles to day-to-day conflict situations.

 

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Communicating More Effectively (1 day)

Creatives possess the ability to move and inspire mass audiences, yet still fall into common traps that disrupt and derail basic one-on-one communication. Because the latter is critical to individual, team or organizational effectiveness, miscommunication can have serious short- and long-term consequences. In this workshop you will identify those areas most prone to breakdowns, develop strategies for avoiding the pitfalls and enhance your overall communication effectiveness. 

 

Workshop Outcomes (learning objectives):

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Analyze the communication process for its constituent parts and inherent challenges.
• Predict the effects that a variety of personal characteristics and situational factors can have on communication.
• Use effective models statements to frame essential communications and reduce or eliminate misunderstanding.

Our goal is to help you acquire the skills, knowledge and abilities to improve your creative collaborations and workplace environment, so that you can get back to the business of making entertainment magic free from unnecessary distraction and stress.