Most failures in managing difficult workplace relationships trace back to a conversation someone avoided having. The hardest part of workplace relationships is rarely deciding — it is holding the decision when it becomes unpopular. Participants leave with a method for the organisational leadership capability, not a set of opinions about it. The difficulty is not agreeing that managing difficult workplace relationships matters — it is deciding what to stop doing to make room for it. Participants develop a defensible line of reasoning for the choices they make about the wider organisational leadership agenda. Exercises escalate in difficulty, ending with the ambiguous situations that make workplace relationships hard in practice. It is appropriate for those preparing to take on wider responsibility for managing difficult workplace relationships. Across sectors, teams that rehearse workplace relationships outperform teams that only plan it. The final session converts the week's work on this aspect of organisational leadership into commitments with owners and dates.
Expected Learning Outcomes
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Estimate what managing difficult workplace relationships costs to run properly, and what is lost when it is not.
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Resolve conflict about workplace relationships without leaving residue.
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Build the internal capability for managing difficult workplace relationships rather than depending on external support indefinitely.
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Set direction on workplace relationships that people can act on without further interpretation.
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Delegate responsibility for managing difficult workplace relationships without losing sight of the outcome.
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Define the scope and boundaries of workplace relationships so that responsibility for it is unambiguous.
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Read the informal dynamics that determine whether managing difficult workplace relationships actually moves.
Who Should Attend
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Consultants and advisers supporting clients on managing difficult workplace relationships.
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Department heads and senior managers accountable for workplace relationships.
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Executives leading multi-function programmes involving managing difficult workplace relationships.
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Compliance and governance staff whose remit includes workplace relationships.
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Team leaders responsible for daily delivery of managing difficult workplace relationships.
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Human resources partners advising leaders on workplace relationships.
Course Modules
Open any module to see its sessions and topics.
01
Managing difficult workplace relationships: building the bench and letting go
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1What your team concludes from how you handle managing difficult workplace relationships
Verify six months later that changes to managing difficult workplace relationships have held.
Name a single owner for each element of workplace relationships.
Establish the boundary of managing difficult workplace relationships and record what sits outside it.
Agree the indicators that will show whether workplace relationships is improving.
Session 2Delegating workplace relationships without abandoning it
Prepare how you will respond when managing difficult workplace relationships is challenged publicly.
Collect evidence on the present handling of workplace relationships before proposing changes.
Agree the standard on managing difficult workplace relationships and confirm it applies to everyone.
Decide the point at which you would escalate workplace relationships.
02
Workplace relationships: delegation, trust and accountability
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Making workplace relationships work when resources are constrained
Confirm that those complying with managing difficult workplace relationships understand why it exists.
State the outcome expected from workplace relationships in a single sentence anyone can repeat.
Decide what you will delegate on managing difficult workplace relationships and what you will not, and say why.
Estimate the resource workplace relationships requires to run as designed.
Session 2Applying the standard on workplace relationships to your best performer
Confirm that the people affected by managing difficult workplace relationships heard it from you first.
Check that records of workplace relationships answer the questions likely to be asked.
Record what was learned when managing difficult workplace relationships did not go as planned.
Establish who is informed, consulted and accountable in workplace relationships.
