Facilitation & Conflict Work
Move difficult or complex conversations towards clarity and action
We facilitate conversations and group processes that help organisations plan, make decisions, address conflict and strengthen working relationships.
- Individual conversations
- An assessment of the issues
- Facilitated sessions
- A written record of outcomes
Commission this when.
This includes strategy sessions, consultations and retreats, as well as support where trust has broken down or disagreement is affecting the work.
You can commission a single process or retain CTDC as an ongoing external partner for team conflict and communication support. We help address current difficulties, respond to new issues as they arise and work on recurring patterns over time.
We prepare each process around its purpose, the people involved and the power, relationships and organisational conditions shaping the situation. Where needed, we begin with individual conversations to understand different perspectives. We help clarify what can be agreed, what remains unresolved and what needs to happen next.
Any one of the following is reason enough to start a conversation.
You need an external facilitator for a strategy session, consultation, retreat or shared decision.
Disagreements or communication difficulties are affecting how people work together.
Internal attempts to address a conflict have stalled, or the same tensions keep returning.
Leaders or teams are struggling to agree on priorities, responsibilities or decisions.
Trust has been damaged by organisational change, a safeguarding failure or an unresolved incident.
You need meaningful participation across teams, organisations, countries or languages.
You want to retain an external partner for ongoing team conflict and communication support, covering current difficulties and new issues as they arise.
What you receive.
Depending on the agreed scope, your deliverables may include:
Individual conversations
To understand different perspectives, experiences and priorities.
An assessment of the issues
Identifying areas of agreement, recurring tensions and the organisational conditions contributing to them.
Facilitated sessions
For dialogue, consultation, strategic planning or working through conflict.
A written record of outcomes
Covering decisions, agreements, unresolved matters, responsibilities and next steps.
Practical recommendations
For improving communication, working relationships, decision-making and organisational arrangements.
Ongoing external support
For addressing new issues, facilitating further conversations and reviewing progress over time.
What this includes.
Most assignments draw on more than one of these.
Strategy sessions and retreats
Facilitating planning, shared vision and decisions about priorities, organisational direction and change.
- Planning
- Shared vision
- Priorities
- Organisational direction and change
Consultations and shared learning
Designing participation across teams, organisations, countries and languages, including knowledge exchange and reflection at the end of programmes.
- Participation design
- Multi-country consultations
- Multilingual consultations
- Knowledge exchange
- End-of-programme reflection
Leadership and team communication
Coaching and facilitated discussions to clarify responsibilities, align priorities, improve communication and prepare for difficult conversations.
- Coaching
- Facilitated discussions
- Clarifying responsibilities
- Aligning priorities
- Difficult conversations
Conflict assessment, dialogue and mediation
Identifying where tensions lie and supporting structured conversations to work through disagreements, including when conflict has escalated.
- Identifying tensions
- Structured conversations
- Working through disagreements
- Escalated conflict
Organisational repair and trust-building
Processes that address the effects of harm, disruption or unresolved conflict, including restorative and transformative justice approaches.
- Effects of harm
- Disruption
- Unresolved conflict
- Restorative justice
- Transformative justice
Ongoing conflict and communication support
Acting as a retained external partner for current and future team conflicts, communication difficulties and recurring patterns that need sustained attention.
- Retained external partner
- Team conflicts
- Communication difficulties
- Recurring patterns
How we facilitate.
Agree the purpose and process.
We clarify what the work should achieve, who needs to participate and how confidentiality, reporting and decision-making will be handled.
Listen to different perspectives.
Where useful, we hold individual conversations to understand people's experiences, priorities and concerns before planning group sessions.
Account for power and context.
We consider how authority, relationships, language and culture affect participation, and design ways for different perspectives to be heard.
Examine what sustains the difficulty.
We look at how responsibilities, decisions and organisational arrangements contribute to recurring tensions, and identify what needs to change.
Clarify outcomes and next steps.
We establish what is agreed, what remains unresolved and who is responsible for following through. We help people make informed decisions where differences remain.
Provide ongoing support.
For retained engagements, we follow up on agreed actions, respond to new issues and review recurring patterns as the organisation's needs change.
What we prioritise
We prioritise honest dialogue, reflection and institutional accountability. We consider individual actions alongside the leadership, structures and working conditions that shape them.
The aim is practical change and lasting learning. We work towards decisions and commitments that people understand and can act on. Where agreement is not possible, we help clarify the differences and the choices that remain.
Working in your language
We work natively in English and Arabic across every service and at any scale: research design and fieldwork, policy drafting, training delivery, facilitation, and written deliverables.
We also work in French and Spanish on smaller assignments: workshops and training sessions, interviews and consultations, focused reviews, and translation and localisation review. This work is delivered by associates who work natively in those languages.
For large-scale work in French or Spanish, we will tell you where our capacity ends and help you structure the assignment accordingly. We have designed and facilitated consultations in English, Arabic and French across fourteen countries, so we know what this requires, and we do not take on work we cannot deliver to the same standard.
Where an assignment needs other languages, we can arrange capacity through our international network and will be explicit about what that adds in time and cost.
Selected work in practice.
A regional strategy shaped by country teams and partners
An international NGO needed a regional strategy that reflected headquarters priorities, country experience and partner perspectives. CTDC designed and facilitated multilingual consultations across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, involving country teams and four regional offices. The findings identified unclear terminology, gaps in localisation and organisational commitments that had not been put into practice, providing evidence to inform the regional strategy.
Facilitation & Conflict Work · Research & Assessment
Frequently asked questions.
Discuss facilitation or ongoing support.
Tell us what you need to work through and who is involved. We will help you identify a suitable approach, whether you need support with a specific situation or an ongoing arrangement.
