One day · CPD accredited · Belfast Castle or online
Constructive Professional Dialogue
There’s a conversation you’ve been putting off. The performance issue nobody has raised, the behaviour nobody has named, the decision you know will land badly.
Putting it off rarely makes it smaller. This is a one-day course about having those conversations well — clearly, without cruelty, and without the thing escalating the moment you open your mouth.
Who it’s for
Anyone who has to say difficult things to other people as part of their job. Managers giving hard feedback, colleagues raising something that’s been ignored, professionals delivering news nobody wants.
No previous training needed.
What happens on the day
Morning — why these conversations go wrong. What happens in the room, and in your own head, when a conversation turns. How defensiveness starts, and what triggers it in the first ninety seconds.
Midday — structure. How to prepare, how to open, and how to stay on the point when someone pushes back. Separating the issue from the person without softening the message into meaninglessness.
Afternoon — practice. Your own real situations, worked through with feedback. You bring the conversation you’ve been avoiding; you leave having rehearsed it.
What you leave with
- A repeatable structure for opening a hard conversation
- Ways to keep going when the other person gets upset or shuts down
- The ability to be direct and kind at once, which most people treat as a contradiction
- A CPD accredited certificate
How this differs from Workplace Conflict Management
This course is about conversations you have to lead yourself. Workplace Conflict Management is about stepping into disagreements between other people.
Plenty of people do both. If you’re not sure which you need, ask us — we’d rather you were on the right one.
Run this course for your own team
This course also runs in-house, for one group in your own setting or online, at a day rate rather than per seat. That is separate from booking a place on a public date above.
Having trouble with this form? Call us on 028 9043 8614 or email info@mediationni.org and we will take the details.
Would rather talk it through? Book a 30-minute call.
A taste of the course
This is Conflict Styles, one of the modules from the course, taught in full and free to watch.
Conflict Styles
Most people default to the same one or two responses under pressure, and their default is invisible to them. Naming the five styles is the quickest way to see your own, and to stop reading someone else’s as bad faith.
One module from the course, free and in full. More free tools.
Cost and dates
- 23 February 2027Belfast CastleBook a place
£295 per person. Runs throughout the year at Belfast Castle and online, booked separately.
Common questions
Can I bring a real situation?
Yes, and we’d encourage it. The afternoon works best when people bring something live. Nothing leaves the room.
Is it the same course online?
Yes — same content, same accreditation, same trainers.
Can you run this for our whole team?
Yes. It works particularly well as a whole-team day, because afterwards everyone shares the same language for raising things. Training for your team.
What if I need to cancel?
TO CONFIRM — cancellation and transfer terms.
What this leads to
Principled Negotiation is the natural next step — three days, OCN accredited, for when the conversation has to end in an agreement.