Sentence Starters and Scripts for Difficult Conversations
This guide offers practical sentence starters and scripts to help you initiate and manage difficult conversations at work with confidence and clarity.
How to have a Difficult Conversation
Use this resource to organize your thoughts before addressing a conflict. Writing things down can help you gain clarity, regulate emotions, and approach the conversation with confidence and purpose.
Office of the Ombudsperson
The Office of the Ombudsperson is a confidential, impartial, informal, and independent organization that provides conflict resolution, mediation services, and advocacy for fair treatment and processes for anyone with a university related concern including faculty, staff, and students.
Employee Assistance Program
Offers confidential, short-term counseling and referral services at no cost to UI faculty, staff, postdocs, medical residents, their spouses/partners, and insurance-eligible dependents living in Iowa.
How to Proactively Manage Conflict as an Employee
This course teaches how to differentiate conflict from bullying and identify when you need third-party intervention and discusses how to overcome conflict with colleagues, whether they're disengaged, hostile, or simply stressed.
**LinkedIn Learning is free for staff and students at University of Iowa
Building Confidence in Addressing Conflict
This guide can help you build confidence in handling workplace conflicts through self-reflection and practical exercises.
When Conflict Crosses the Line
This webpage helps employees and supervisors provides steps you can take when it seems conflict is no longer manageable and you'd like to get outside support and help.
AI-powered Role Plays
LinkedIn Learning offers a few AI-powered role plays that give you a chance to practice difficult conversations and receive feedback in a safe environment.
**LinkedIn Learning is free for staff and students at University of Iowa
Addressing Team Conflict Tool
Effective team communication and collaboration are essential for organizational success. This document is a tool to diagnose and address common team conflict issues, offering practical strategies to enhance trust, morale, and engagement.
Coaching Employees Through Difficult Situations
There is a full LinkedIn Learning course, Coaching Employees through Difficult Situations, that explores various scenarios that supervisors face with employees and shows example conversations for working through them.
**LinkedIn Learning is free for staff and students at University of Iowa
Improving Your Conflict Competence
In this course, author and conflict expert Craig Runde helps you manage workplace conflict more effectively. He first explains the dynamics that create conflict, and helps you become aware of what your conflict response is. Once you are aware of how conflict arises, learn some practical steps you can take to manage your emotions and engage with others constructively.
**LinkedIn Learning is free for staff and students at University of Iowa
Guidance for Responding to Sensitive Concerns
These talking points can help you respond compassionately and appropriately when someone brings forward a concern that might involve harassment, discrimination, or other misconduct. Use them flexibly to support the individual and meet your reporting responsibilities.