Intercultural Conflict Styles Coaching
What if the way you approach conflict isn’t better or worse than how others do… it’s just different?
That’s what the Intercultural Conflict Styles Inventory asks everyone who uses it. While organizations may value one way of approaching conflict over another, individuals and the cultures they come from are inevitably going to bring their own ways of doing things into the workplace. When those differences are recognized and valued, they can strengthen team efficacy, rather than hindering it.
Based on decades of research on conflict, the ICSI maps each participant into one of four conflict style categories across an X and Y axis based on whether they are emotionally restrained or expressive, and whether they are direct or indirect when in conflict.
These two powerful measures impact nearly everything about an individual’s approach to communication when tension ratchets up, and when two people with different styles are in conflict with each other, it can be explosive.
The Intercultural Conflict Styles Inventory gives individuals and teams the language, tools, and skills they need to build self-awareness, learn about those whose conflict styles are different from their own, and bridge the gap effectively.
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde say their partnership with Collaborate was “universally talked about as a great use of everyone’s time,” and they had “no notes” on how the partnership could be improved.
Trystan Reese has spent nearly two decades as a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), the world's leading assessment of intercultural competence and publisher of the ICSI. He has coached cancer researchers, business school faculty, public health teams, nonprofit executives, and global leaders through the work of shifting cultural perspective and adapting behavior across difference.
What ICSI coaching looks like:
The ICSI tool works with both individuals and teams, and generally begins with each team member taking the assessment online. It takes roughly 20 minutes to complete, and a report showing the individual’s conflict style is automatically generated and sent to the participant.
A 45-minute coaching session then takes place between the participant and a Collaborate staff member trained in the model. This one-on-one, live meeting helps the participant interpret their results and understand what it means for them in the workplace.
Then, all assessment results are aggregated into a group report, which is included in a team debrief that provides an in-depth look at the four conflict styles, layered over the realities of culture, belonging, and inclusion. Using small-group discussion, interactive activities, and real-world challenges, teams leave with a solid commitment for how they will solve problems, lean into conflict (instead of avoiding it), and specific tools for navigating high-stress situations.
What you'll leave with:
Individuals gain a clear picture of their preferred conflict style, a sense of how to adapt to other conflict styles, and concrete strategies to engage in healthier ways when times get tough. Teams learn where they fall, generally speaking, on the inventory, and what that means for their culture and dynamics. Everyone leaves with a stronger sense of cohesion, new skills for disagreeing, and increased confidence when it comes to conflict and disagreement.
