online short course
Conflict, Feedback and Difficult Conversations
Build practical skills to handle conflict, give useful feedback and navigate difficult conversations with confidence and care.
Difficulty
Beginner
Duration
2 hours
Language
English
Accredited
Yes
About the course
Agile teams are expected to inspect and adapt. That sounds simple, but it depends on people being honest. A team cannot inspect honestly if people hide the real issue. A team cannot adapt quickly if disagreement is avoided. A team cannot improve if feedback is vague, delayed or only shared in private conversations after the meeting.
This course is not about becoming confrontational; it is about learning how to disagree well and building a psychologically safe culture.
You will explore how to raise difficult issues, give useful feedback, handle tension, repair trust and keep learning. You will also build practical tools you can use with your team, including a conflict charter, a feedback rewrite method and a script for difficult conversations.
The main idea is simple. Agility depends on the quality of our conversations.
The focus is practice. You will not only read about better conversations, you will prepare for them, rewrite them, test language and apply the ideas to your own work. Most people find difficult conversations hard for understandable reasons. This course will not remove all discomfort, but it will help you handle that discomfort with more skill.
Learning outcomes
Explain why healthy conflict matters in agile work
You will recognize how avoiding conflict creates hidden costs and how to draft a simple conflict charter for a team.
Explain the difference between psychological safety and comfort
You will be able to give feedback using candour with care.
Prepare for a difficult conversation
You will be able to use a script to name a difficult dynamic without blaming the person and understand how to repair and reset after tension.
Who is it for?
- Professionals who want to handle workplace conflict constructively
- Anyone wanting to give and receive feedback with confidence and care
- Team members and leaders who want to navigate difficult conversations more effectively
Curriculum
1.01 Course Introduction
1.02 What makes the difficult conversations difficult?
2.01 The Reputation of ‘Conflict’
2.02 Conflict Debt
2.03 Conflict Default Self-Audit
2.04 Conflict Default Self-Audit Outcomes
2.05 What kind of conflict is this?
2.06 Section Summary
3.01 Agree Before You Disagree
3.02 Permission-Style Statements
3.03 Contracting for Conflict Knowledge Check
3.04 Section Summary
4.01 Psychological Safety
4.02 The Safety and Standards Matrix
4.03 Safety and Accountability Knowledge Check
4.04 Section Summary
5.01 Clear is Kind
5.02 Radical Candor
5.03 Feedback Re-Write
5.04 Candor with Care Knowledge Check
5.05 Section Summary
6.01 Having Difficult Conversations
6.02 Start with Your Motive
6.03 The STATE Method
6.04 Adapt the Meta-Conversation Script
6.05 The Conversation Itself Knowledge Check
6.06 Section Summary
7.01 Part of Your Leadership Skillset
7.02 What Does Repair and Reset Mean?
7.03 Commit to One Conversation
7.04 Repair and Reset Knowledge Check
7.05 Section Summary
8.01 Course Summary and References
8.02 Final Reflection
8.03 Congratulations
Gain a Recognized Course Certification
Upon successful completion, you’ll receive a digital certificate from the Agile Business Consortium, globally recognized by employers and professional bodies.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Our online courses are part of Individual Membership, so you’ll need to be a member to access them. Membership gives you the full library of courses alongside resources, events and our communities, all for £165 a year. You can become a member and start learning straight away.
The course is self-paced, so you can work through it whenever suits you and take as long as you need. Your access continues for as long as your membership is active, so there’s no pressure to finish by a set date.
No. Our courses are designed to be accessible whatever your background. Each course has a difficulty level (Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced) so you can choose what’s right for you, but there are no formal prerequisites to enrol.
Yes. On completing the course, you’ll earn a certificate endorsed by the Agile Business Consortium to add to your professional portfolio and share with your network or employer.
Each course is fully online and self-paced, made up of a mix of video lessons, practical activities, case studies and quizzes. You can learn at your own pace, on any device, wherever you are.