Dealing with Hostility - Perth

Dealing with Hostility - Perth

Professional Development Course Outline

Course Overview

Imagine this: you’re in a meeting room in Northbridge and the heat jumps not because of the temperature – but because a frustrated colleague has become too hot to handle. Sound familiar? I think most of us have found ourselves there at some point, and frankly, it’s one of the worst things about work life.

This class is not about rolling over and being a doormat, or just grinning and bearing it when someone is having a meltdown. It’s all about arming you with actual, actionable tools to deal with these moments gracefully and confidently. Throughout my years working with Perth businesses (ya know - from little Fremantle startups to big corporates in the city) fill in the blanks with your own examples but I’ve seen this way too often - good folk being taken down by (let’s call it for what it is) the assholes. The fact is, we can do better.

So when somebody’s voice starts getting louder and their face turning red, your natural instincts take over. Your pulse races, your palms might sweat, and you are either ready to fight back or just throw up your hands and head for the hills. This is completely natural, but it doesn’t have to determine how things develop in these situations. This simple strategy and real-world practice help you to keep calm among those all around you who are losing theirs.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, individuals will:

Show professional, cool reactions to hostile behaviour in professional life.

Use established de-escalation strategies and techniques that bring calm rather than escalate conflict

Spot advance warning signs of escalating conflict before the temperature reaches boiling point

Use boundary-setting and protection strategies for your own well-being without increasing conflict

Differentiate between assertive and aggressive responses

Develop your own techniques of resilience when you are regularly exposed to challenging personalities

What You Will Learn

Session 1: Understanding the Beast In this class we'll uncover what's really going on when someone's acting aggressively - spoiler alert, it's usually not about you! You’ll become good at spotting the warning signs before someone blows and recognizing when other people are just having a bad day vs. have serious problems.

Session 2: Your Response Toolkit This is the practical part. You will find specific phrases that turn discussions around, figure out how your body language either exacerbates or defuses situations, and train yourself to stay calm in the center of the storm of what it feels like in the 50s until the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Session 3: De-escalation in action To finish up, you will practice those skills in a safe environment, role playing real and typical Perth workplace scenarios – the difficult customer, the overwhelmed colleague, the unrealistic deadline. No textbook examples here, only the stuff that you will actually run into.

Session 4: Protecting Yourself There are times you must walk away and times you must take a stand. We will discuss how to establish clear boundaries without making enemies, how to stay mentally healthy when you work around difficult people all the time, and when to take it to management.

Session 5: Advanced Strategies It’s not always possible to sit your boss down and confront them, so what happens when a standard solution won’t work – the serial complainer, the office bully, or how to tell someone who can’t take criticism that they can do better. You’ll depart with a full strategy for every problematic personality.

Course Format

This interactshop takes theory sessions of short duration and applies these in large hands-on practice. Attendees problem-solve in small groups with real-world scenarios, use role-plays to model how to de-escalate incidents, and complete a customized game plan to take back to their workplace.

Duration

Full day intensive (7 hours including breaks) or two half a day sessions

Summary

Let’s face it, tough people are here to stay. But your response to them can be entirely different. That knowledge empowers you to address workplace hostility so it doesn’t ruin your day, your relationships or your opportunities for career advancement.

You’ll leave with actionable tools you can use right away, whether you are taking a call from an irate customer on the phone this afternoon or staring down a stressful team meeting next week. Most importantly, you’ll find that dealing with tough stuff isn't about being tougher - but being smarter, more cool-headed, and more strategic in the way you handle things.

This is not about winning every battle, but keeping the focus on your professionalism, your peace of mind, and solutions that work for everyone involved. That’s a skill worth paying for.