We teach your staff how to “Treat People with Dignity by Showing them Respect” and how to “Generate Voluntary Collaboration, Cooperation or Compliance” when they deal with your customers. Here are the learning objectives for Dynamis core Non-Escalation and De-Escalation conflict management curriculum from Vistelar.
By the end of this Conflict and Violence Risk Reduction training program your staff will have the knowledge to interact with customers and to manage conflict professionally by:
- Not cause or unnecessarily escalate conflict
- Confidently deal with verbal abuse
- Engage in difficult conversations
- Effectively de-escalate conflict
- Persuade others to cooperate
- Stay safe in crisis situations
- Know what to do when word-based tactics fail
- End an interaction in a better place than where it started
- Look good on camera no matter where an interaction ends up
“The biggest cause for concern in the report’s findings is the prevalence of violence and abuse against retailers and store colleagues. People working in convenience stores are most vulnerable to violence when they are being responsible members of their community by challenging shop thieves, enforcing age restrictions or refusing to serve intoxicated customers.
Retail crime is not victimless – its impact on the people running, working in and using local shops is lasting, tangible and profound. Everyone connected with our sector, with law enforcement and with the treatment of offenders can play a part in tackling this problem”
- Retailers perceive that 50% of repeat offenders are motivated by a drug or alcohol addiction.
- 83% of staff in convenience stores have experienced verbal abuse.
- Estimated number of violent incidents is 9,782 with 41% of violent incidents result in injury.
- 48% of retailers have experienced violence or verbal abuse.
- 27% of retailers say they have seen an increase in incidents
For more information see the ACS Crime Report (linked) and this VICE article.
Here is the British Retail Consortium Crime report.
We focus on the “tactics” of a conflict management encounter: the meshing of the non-verbal, verbal and physical techniques – the continuum of options that exist in any interaction – to deliver the best outcome.
In other words, we emphasise the application of techniques across the spectrum of conflict — the “Six Cs of Communications” (see list below) — using a level of intrusiveness appropriate for each technique being applied.
1. Context: the approach considerations and initial assessment of the interaction focussing on being prepared for success
2. Contact: how to make an initial contact that doesn’t escalate a situation and is focused on treating others with dignity by showing them respect
3. Conflict: how to stay safe and prevent disagreements from progressing to emotional or physical violence
4. Crisis: how to stay safe and de-escalate a situation when the subject is apparently under the influence of personal stress, drugs & alcohol, or mental health issues.
5. Combat: how to apply the appropriate personal protection and physical control tactics to stabilise a situation when words alone fail.
6. Closure: how to normalise a situation after an incident, which includes reassuring the subject, providing medical treatment and debriefing the incident.
This “tactics” approach to training includes “skill-station” drills – where numerous techniques are applied together in real-world scenarios – which allows the delivery of training in short modules.
See also: https://www.dynamis.training/keeping-retail-staff-safe-from-abuse-intimidation-violence/