Royal Life Saving introduces new conflict management course for the aquatic industry

Royal Life Saving Society - Australia has developed a new course on how to manage conflicts, specifically tailored for those working in the aquatic industry.

The course has been developed as a result of feedback in the 2019 National Aquatic Industry Workforce Survey in which industry professionals cited managing conflict high on their list of preferred professional development topics.

Introducing the program, Royal Life Saving National Training and Workforce Development Manager, Shaun Jackson, advised “it was interesting to see that, regardless of job role, conflict management was consistently highlighted by aquatic industry employees for further professional development. This included learning how to deal with challenges relating to managing conflict with the public as well as addressing issues within an organisation and among employees and colleagues.”

The Royal Life Saving conflict management course includes online and face-to-face components. Organisations can choose whether they want their staff to complete the online component only or whether they’d like them to attend additional face-to-face group training sessions as well to drive home learning and skill development.

The online course is broken down into four main learning themes: understanding conflict; identifying conflict; personality types and conflict; and how to manage conflict situations.

Each of these themes is explored through several animated scenarios created in familiar aquatic industry settings. Each scenario examines various pathways of a conflict situation depending on the actions and responses of participants to help guide them through the key steps and strategies for managing conflict and support them to understand the potential outcomes.

The practical face-to-face training asks participants to reflect, discuss and then apply the knowledge and skills gained from the online course to a range of realistic scenarios that employees in the aquatic industry face. It is designed to provide a challenging, fun and safe space for colleagues and teams to put their learning into practice, with experienced Royal Life Saving facilitators to engage and inspire participants to resolve real-life conflict situations.

The focus of the course is on managing conflict situations through to a positive outcome to lead to a better understanding and appreciation of the challenges, thereby building stronger relationships between colleagues, customers and employers.

Jackson adds “This course will give aquatic industry employees the knowledge, tools and techniques to understand and manage conflict so that they can approach difficult situations with confidence and bring about better outcomes for themselves, the organisation they work for and the aquatic industry in general.”

To find out more about the course or to enrol, contact your local Royal Life Saving office via www.royallifesaving.com.au/contact-us