Finish with a practical conversation plan
Define your objective, anticipate possible reactions, structure your opening and key points, and map out a clear next step
Coming Soon
Managing Difficult
Conversations & Conflict
Self-paced - start anytime · 2 weeks + orientation
2-4 hrs / week · R990
2-4 hrs / week · R990
#2Ranked skill SA employers want in 2025: leadership & social influence*
2 WeeksTo a written conversation plan
Course Overview
The conversation you have been putting off is costing more than the conversation would. This course gets you ready for the difficult conversation instead of around it: you set a clear objective for one specific conversation, map the reactions and tension points you can reasonably expect, and script an opening, key points and a close. You then practise what the conversation itself demands — active listening, feedback on behaviour and impact rather than blame, choosing a response to defensiveness, and de-escalating. By the end of the course, you will finish with a written conversation plan you can use this week.
Delivered in Partnership with Alwin Education LTD
This TSIBA course is delivered in partnership with Alwin Education Ltd. Alwin Education is a UK based digitally native network of locally accredited higher-education institutions that focus on expanding access, strengthening quality, and aligning every programme to labour-market demand. This course is aimed at giving working professionals a practical, career-focused learning experience underpinned by rigorous academic standards.
By the end of this course, you will...
Prepare for difficult conversations instead of improvising
Turn a vague concern into a clear outcome, then prepare for the questions, objections and emotions the conversation may bring.
Give feedback people can act on
Replace vague criticism with clear feedback that identifies the behaviour, explains its impact and sets out a constructive next step.
Respond deliberately rather than react emotionally
Learn when to pause, clarify, reflect, set a boundary or move towards agreement—and create a de-escalation plan for a tense situation.
Who is this course for?
Newly appointed managers
The performance issue, the missed deadline, the behaviour everyone works around — they are now yours to raise, and nobody has shown you how.
Typical job titles: team leader, supervisor, shift supervisor, project coordinator, assistant manager.
A specialist who has to raise the hard thing
Your technical judgement is not the problem; telling a colleague their work has to change, or telling a client no, is where you stall and let it slide.
Typical job titles: engineer, accountant, software developer, quantity surveyor, clinical team lead.
Those managing conflict weekly, but want a method
Grievances, performance discussions, escalations and pushback are routine, and you would rather work from a repeatable structure than improvise each time.
Typical job titles: HR practitioner, HR business partner, operations manager, account manager, customer service team leader.
Curriculum
Orientation module + 2 modules. Each module runs one week at 2-4 hours.
ORIENTATIONGet set up before module content begins
01Preparing for Difficult Conversations
Define a clear objective built on the outcome you actually want, then anticipate the likely reactions, questions and tension points without inventing assumptions about the other person. Structure the discussion end to end — an opening, key points and a close — and work through tools for staying steady when it turns tense. Includes two facilitator interviews with practising managers.
Output: a written conversation plan for a real workplace situation.
02Managing Conflict and Giving Feedback
Practise active listening, then rewrite vague criticism as feedback that names observable behaviour, impact and a requested next step, and compare your options when someone pushes back. It comes together in a de-escalation sequence, with facilitator interviews taking a manager through feedback without blame and a conflict-resolution practitioner through a live scenario.
Output: a feedback message and a de-escalation plan.
✓
What You Finish With
A written conversation plan for a real situation you're facing - objective, reaction map, opening, key points and close - plus a feedback message and a de-escalation plan you can use this week.
Fees & Payment
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total course fee | R990 |
| Included | All course materials |
| Group / employer enrolment | Price determined by group size |
Influential Business Communication
Influential Business Communication is TSIBA's six-week short course covering conflict and communication at a broader scope. A six week programme where you’ll map who actually decides on a workplace issue and adapt your message for them, plan a difficult conversation properly instead of winging it, give feedback people can act on, cut a wordy draft into a message busy people actually read, and build a presentation around one decision-ready message. By the end of the course you'll have a Business Communication Portfolio built from your own workplace challenges.
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Build conflict-capable managers before you need them
Most workplace conflicts do not arrive as conflicts, they arrive as a conversation nobody had. This course closes that gap in 2–4 hours a week across two weeks, fully online, with participants working on a conversation they are actually facing rather than a case study.
Talk to Us About CohortsA plan you can read, not just a completion tick
Each participant produces a written conversation plan for a real situation, a feedback message, a de-escalation plan, and a scenario-based check that shows the judgement behind them.
Built around a full working week
2 to 4 hours a week, fully online, across two weeks. No travel, no days out of the business, no cover to arrange.
One shared method across the team
The same way of setting an objective, the same feedback structure, the same de-escalation sequence.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the course start?
Anytime - this is a self-paced micro course with no fixed intake dates. Enrol and begin your orientation module whenever suits you.
Do I need a specific conversation in mind to enrol?
It helps since the course is built around planning a real conversation you're facing, but you can also work from a recent or upcoming situation you identify during Module 1.
How much time does the course take each week?
2-4 hours a week across 2 weeks, plus an orientation module. Fully online.
What do I walk away with?
A written conversation plan, a feedback message and a de-escalation plan for a real situation.
How does this relate to Influential Business Communication?
This micro course covers a focused part of Influential Business Communication, TSIBA's broader six-week short course.
Can my employer enrol a group?
Yes - cohorts can be enrolled for a team. Group pricing determined by group size.