Dealing with Confrontational People for Councillors

How to deal with unwanted and difficult encounters

Synopsis

Queensland Elected Members are responsible for setting the overall direction of the council and region they are elected to.  Ultimately, they are directly responsible to the community for the local government's performance.

With these responsibilities, their roles can be challenging, and they can at times, face hostility and anger from community members in person or via social media.

Our workshop will provide Queensland Elected Members with some tools to meet these challenges.

Course Topics

• How to notice your own emotions in an unexpected confrontational environment

• 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
• How Council Values can guide your behaviour during a confrontation
• Respond to negative social media posts (Refer: Code of Conduct for Councillors – the Local Government Act 2009 sets behavioural standards for Councillors)
• How to develop empathy to better understand the aggressor
• Specific language responses which ease conflict and take the ‘heat’ out of a confrontation. 
• Maintaining professionalism and calm when emotions run high

AT ALL TIMES BE RESPONSIBLE, RESPECTFUL, REPUTABLE

About the Trainer

David Contarini is a dynamic and accomplished facilitator from humble beginnings as a physical education teacher to delivering engaging content in the leadership and health and wellness sectors.

David has been delivering wellness workshops for Peak Services since 2020 and continues to provide useful wellness skills and tools for Queensland council officers, CEOs and Elected Members.

David is a professional counsellor and holds a master’s degree in management and Diploma’s in Teaching & Events Management.