In our 10th year of visiting and training hospital teams across the Gulf, we continue to uncover new insights about the flashpoints for conflict — and the best ways staff can prevent and manage it. Here’s what we learned on our most recent trip to a UAE hospital.
Working with the hugely multicultural teams at hospitals such as Al Rashid in Dubai, we’ve seen firsthand how core conflict management strategies — treating people with dignity and showing them respect — can and do translate across language barriers, cultural differences, and even social issues.
Staff discussed how even though there may be differing perceptions on ideal eye contact or specific body language postures, the fundamental ideas about showing respect to others remain consistent across the human condition.
“Fundamental ideas about showing respect to others remain consistent across the human condition.”
Throughout each session, we run personal experiments in conflict communication that challenge staff to deploy professional language in the face of provocation, intimidation, or abuse. These short, focused, practicable exercises let us see and hear that staff genuinely understand how to manage a distressed person in a live event.
Establishing and maintaining a safe learning environment is essential — and the engagement from staff tells us they feel supported in pushing their boundaries.
✅ What makes this training work: Short, practical exercises that simulate real confrontation — not abstract theory. Staff practice professional language under pressure, making the skills usable on the ward the same day.
Our approach borrows heavily from our colleagues at Vistelar. The framework offers a system of action with specific communication strategies that can first be practised, then refined and individualised over time by the unique mindset of each practitioner.
By listening and working with people using primal influencers — Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness (SCARF) — we can operate in a multicultural environment that, at its core, meets deep-down human needs.
“Treating people with dignity and showing them respect can and do translate across language barriers, cultural differences, and even social issues.”
Personal Safety, Conflict Management, and Physical Restraint Training from sector experts at Dynamis. Director of Training Gerard O’Dea specialises in De-Escalating Conflict for the UAE Hospital sector.
This guide is part of our ongoing work with schools, hospitals, and academies. For more, visit our Conflict Management and Vistelar training pages.
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