Dealing with confrontational people

Published on 26 January 2025

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By Patricia Paolini, Business Development Manager, Training

Some might say that the 21st century has been coined the ‘Age of Rage’.

Modern life can be stressful, and families are often juggling multiple responsibilities such as work, family and social obligations.

Financial instability, price increases and concerns about the future, pandemics, climate change, and global issues coupled with social media can further impact our negative emotions.

It’s no wonder, people are quick to anger.

The work and decisions made by councils for their communities are not always understood and hence there is a fair amount of negative energy forced upon some of our public-facing officers as well as key representatives and council leaders.  Some of these interactions have been of a very serious manner, whilst most are short verbal interactions that cause stress to your staff.

Employees whose roles are public facing are most likely to encounter negativity during their work hours. For council employees who work and live in smaller communities, the negativity can, and often, takes place outside work hours. 

So how do we manage confrontation and keep our staff and the community safe from escalating behaviour?

Learning how to manage confrontations is the key to helping your employees maintain professionalism and safety during these interactions.  

Did you know Queensland councils have a legal responsibility under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 to provide training that ensures the safety of their employees? This includes equipping staff with skills to handle confrontational situations effectively.  By training employees to handle confrontational situations calmly and effectively, councils can enhance overall community safety too.

One of our most requested training programs is our half-day Dealing with Confrontational People workshop.

By teaching the skills of effective listening and responding, participants learn how to neutralise anger for mutual benefit.

Here are some tips to help diffuse difficult situations and turn a negative into a positive:
- Don’t take it personally!  This can be quite a challenge but understand the customer’s need to vent their displeasure.
- Develop a partnership mindset. Turn the conversation into a partnership – how can we resolve this together?
- Turn a negative into a positive. See the situation as a challenge for you to change the negativity into a positive outcome and happier customer.
- Acknowledgement.  A simple acknowledgement, e.g. “that must be very frustrating for you” can go a long way towards diffusing a situation.
- Debrief if needed and breathe. Dealing with ‘difficult’ people can be very stressful.  Talk to someone and breathe to relieve stress.
  
  Our half-day Dealing with Confrontational People workshop also covers the following topics and if delivered inhouse, it can be customised to the audience.
- How to notice their own emotions in a confrontational environment.
- How Council Values can guide their behaviour during a confrontation.
- How to maintain professionalism and stay calm when emotions run high.
- How to develop empathy to better understand the aggressor.
- How the brain responds to confrontation and how to best communicate during conflict.
- Why people get angry and how to better understand them during a confrontation.
- Specific language responses that ease conflict and take the ‘heat’ out of a confrontation.

This course is available to the general public on our 2025 virtual calendar, or it can be delivered inhouse at your council for maximum impact.

Talk to us today about your requirements to meet council’s Work Health and Safety obligations to ensure you provide your officers with the tools to deal with negative and confrontational situations.

To book places in our virtual short courses, please complete the booking form(PDF, 936KB).

Dealing with Confrontational People workshop 2025 Short Course & Wellness Calendar Training Booking Form(PDF, 936KB)

Email Peak Training

To discuss your inhouse course requirements, please contact training@wearepeak.com.au