How to Manage Conflict and Keep Cool in a Crisis

You can be calm 99% of the time, and the one moment you lose it is what people remember. Conflict at school comes from every direction: a class that won't settle, an upset parent, a colleague who keeps missing duties. Most of the skill is staying out of the argument long enough to think.

You'll learn to notice the stress rising and ask yourself whose problem this really is, so you don't catch someone else's anger. You'll slow down, lower your voice and ask "how do you want this to end?" to bring a row back to what matters. You'll also see how someone trying to help can end up cast as the villain, and how to stay out of that trap.

It helps with the conversations you can see coming too, like tackling a colleague about lateness, so you can plan what to say before you're in the room.