Title reads 'Conflict: Training and Planning Tools'. The word conflict is in big cut out letters in multiple colours.

Conflict: Training and Planning Tools

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Introduction

Training resources about conflict for changemakers including workshop exercises, activities and templates to explore in a group setting.

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Training and Planning Resources

Exercises and Activities

Analysis / Understanding Conflict

Understanding Conflict, NEON, see pg 40
This tool will help you understand what conflict looks like now in your organisation and what you would like it to look like. This tool is adapted from this guide from the Centre for Community Organizations – adapted from Dismantling Racism Works, and can be done individually or in collaboration with other members of your team.
Time: 1-2 hours as a self-reflection exercise or as a group.

Our Personal Approach to Conflict: Analysis and Reflection, Just Associates
Understanding and naming factors that influence how we see and deal with conflicts helps us more effectively respond to them. It develops both our personal power and capacity as individuals and as a group. This exercise gets people off their feet to think about how they personally relate to conflicts and the range of factors that influence how they engage and deal with them. It is best used after a climate of trust and openness has been established.
Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Using the “Onion” as a Tool of Analysis, WeRise Toolkit, JASS
The “Onion” framework illuminates certain key elements at play in conflicts and helps us analyze them so they can inform our strategies. Specifically, these include the needs, interests, and positions of parties involved in a conflict from the most superficial to the deepest ones. This tool is useful for organizations and alliances as they try to sort out some of the aspects involved in their internal differences and conflicts, especially when general values and interests are shared about equality and justice. This tool is complementary to the “How Do We Negotiate?” activity. We recommend beginning with How Do We Negotiate as a foundation for the Onion. Used together, they can give a better understanding of the differences in negotiating from needs and interests or positions.
Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Conflict Mapping Diagram, Working with Conflict in our Groups: A Guide for Grassroots Activists, Seeds for Change
Use this tool when your group wants to get a clearer picture of the issues that are underlying the conflict situation. It helps your group to map out the underlying needs and fears of each person involved in the conflict and to find common ground. This tool could be facilitated by someone in your group, including someone directly involved in the conflict (as long as they feel able to stay neutral when encouraging others contributions), by a neutral friend or external facilitator.

Conflict Mapping, pt’chang nonviolent community safety group, see pgs 56-57
Aims: To get a deeper and clearer understanding of a conflict. To see different perspectives and gain new insights so that we are able to come up with creative solutions.
Description: Lecture, individual and pair work.
Time: 50 mins

Conflict Iceberg Activity, Sustaining the Climate Justice Movement: Psychosocial Resilience and Regenerative Activism Training Manual, Ulex Project and Transformative Education CIC, see pgs 250-253
Learning to be better equipped to face and transform conflict is essential for the long-term wellbeing of our groups. Western, middle class culture often socialises people to become confli t avoidant and afraid of disagreements. We might be afraid that an open conflict will be something that destroys relationships and that a disagreement means we cannot work together anymore. In practice, it is often the accumulated tension and the ignoring of brewing conflicts that leads to relationship damage, rather than the simple (and very normal) reality of holding different views from one another. If we can become more skilled in navigating complexity and getting genuinely curious about the disagreements we have, they can offer a precious opportunity for our groups and relationships to grow, our strategies to become more diverse and flexible, and in turn our resilience as individuals, groups and movements to increase. The simple ‘iceberg’ model presented in this session is a way of understanding what is happening underneath the surface of a conflict, so that we can embrace and work with it more skillfully.
Time: 45 mins – 1hr

Tension Shifting in Groups Workshop Plan, XR
Tension shifting is a technique that can be used within groups of people to address tensions that exist among the group. It should be used regularly to address tensions as and when they arise, dealing with them before they have a chance to start causing problems. Includes Workshop plan, guide, template, slides and video.
Time: 1:30 mins

Conflict Sculptures Activity, Sustaining the Climate Justice Movement: Psychosocial Resilience and Regenerative Activism Training Manual, Ulex Project and Transformative Education CIC, see pgs 254 – 258
Basic preparation for approaching conflict resolution
Transforming views around conflict towards more empowering perspectives
Building capacity to hold discomfort
Time: 1hr 20 – 2 hrs 20

Developing an Organisation Conflict System, NEON, see pgs 41 – 43
This tool is about how to bring a conflict system into your organisation, setting out the conditions that will help make it successful and an approach to developing the system in a collaborative way.
Time: As needed

Connectors and Dividers, SNAP Guide: Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding,  The Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Nadine Bloch and Lisa Schirch, pg 101
Examine the broad context of connectors and dividers that exist within a society so we can anticipate how our actions may create further divisions or build a greater sense of connection across the lines of conflict.

Conflict Resolution

Introduction to Conflict Resolution, pt’chang nonviolent community safety group, see pgs 23-24
To explore and develop basic conflict resolution skills.
Time: 2 hrs

Consensus

Quick Decision Making Using Consensus, Rhizome Network and Seeds for Change
Short and longer workshop to explore the model Quick Consensus Decision Making (QCDM) (in a direct action context).

Consensus Decision Making Sample Workshop Plan, Seeds for Change
The aims of the workshop are:
To practise using this process to reach consensus in a meeting.
For participants to get a shard understanding of what consensus decision making is and the
ideas behind it.
To introduce or re­familiarise participants with a model of the consensus process.
Time: 2 hrs

Conversations

How to Talk with Someone we might Sometimes Disagree with, Choose Democracy
Learn skills for bridging with unlikely allies:
– reframing condemnatory ways of communicating
– intro to Race/Class Narrative
– asking open ended questions
– sharing personal narratives
Committing to at least one place where we will practice (e.g. public invitations or deep canvassing or…).
Time: 120 mins

XRTC Dialogue Conversation Guide, XRUK Transformative Conflict team
This tool can support two people to have a conversation where they explore and ease a tension or conflict that exists between them. It is based on techniques used in successful and vibrant residential communities, as well as within the 8 shields system and Non-Violent Communication (NVC).

De-escalation

Using Hassle Lines to Practice Defusing Difficult Situations, SNAP Guide: Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding,  The Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Nadine Bloch and Lisa Schirch, pgs 66 – 67
Experience a simulation of conflict and conflict intervention to identify and practice how to escalate and de-escalate behavior; discuss implications for general conflicts. Create a common experience to ground a discussion on managing conflict. Hassle lines are essentially mini role plays done in lines with participants facing each other (or in concentric circles facing each other).

Feedback

Constructive Feedback, NEON, see pgs 44 – 47
Much like conflict, there are healthy and unhealthy ways of giving feedback, and the traits of these follow the same pattern as healthy and unhealthy conflict. Inviting people in your organisation to give each other feedback, it is essential you clarify the principles and process of constructive feedback and provide training. It’s essential to have a model of feedback that everyone can understand, that can be used and that can be improved on over time and withpractice. There are different ways to do this, here are the principles and process that are used by NEON.
Time: As needed.

Templates and Checklists

Videos

Managing Infighting / Conflict Resolution for Activists, Animal Activism Collective
Every group and relationship can experience conflict. It simply seems like it’s part of being human. When you have people with varied personalities and experiences, that can cause friction if something is not agreed upon.

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  • Organisation: Commons Library
  • Location: Australia
  • Release Date: 2025

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