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Description

Working Together: Understanding Others, Cooperating and Easing Tensions

Improve the quality of everyday working relationships without waiting for conflict to take hold

  • 2 days — 14 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Foundation
  • Up to 6 participants

Cooperation difficulties rarely stem from technical skills. They arise from repeated misunderstandings, differing ways of working, requests made in haste and unspoken issues that accumulate over time. Eventually, everyone explains the problem by pointing to the other person's personality.

Two days to develop the interpersonal skills that matter day to day: listening properly, expressing a request or a disagreement, recognising ways of working that differ from your own and establishing a framework for cooperation with your direct counterparts.

Learning objectives

  • Identify the mechanisms that generate misunderstandings in a working relationship
  • Practise listening based on rephrasing and questioning
  • Express a request or a disagreement on the basis of facts
  • Adapt your communication to the working styles of your counterparts
  • Address tension before it turns into open conflict

What makes this programme different

Situations worked on from real cases experienced by participants
Practice through short role-plays with observers and a feedback grid
A concrete commitment made by each participant on one relationship to improve

Programme

1What Is Really at Play in a Working Relationship

Understand before correcting

  • Facts, interpretations and judgements
  • Recurring sources of misunderstanding in day-to-day exchanges
  • Implicit expectations and unspoken rules
  • The effect of context, workload and urgency

2Listening and Questioning

The most neglected skill

  • Barriers to listening and the reflex to respond immediately
  • Rephrasing and checking understanding
  • Open questions and follow-up prompts
  • Paying attention to what is left unsaid

3Making Yourself Understood

Asking, stating and declining

  • Formulating a clear request together with what is at stake
  • Expressing disagreement based on facts
  • Declining with sound reasoning and proposing an alternative
  • Acknowledging the work of others

4Cooperating Over the Long Term

Set a framework rather than endure the situation

  • Recognising ways of working that differ from your own
  • Working rules to agree between departments or within a pair
  • Handling an emerging tension
  • Escalating to the manager and the limits of the direct relationship

Who is it for

Team members and colleagues working in cross-functional relationships · Anyone whose work depends on the cooperation of other departments

Prerequisites

No prerequisites

Dates & locations

36 scheduled dates between November 2026 and December 2027. Seats are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

September 2027

October 2027

November 2027

December 2027

None of these dates suit you? We open additional sessions on request, and any programme can be run privately for your team.

Practical details

Before the programme
Online positioning questionnaire. Your development objectives are shared with the trainer, who tailors the practical case studies to your context.
Teaching methods
Theoretical input, workshops and practical case studies. Digital course materials and method sheets provided.
Assessment
Multiple-choice tests and role-play exercises. Assessment of learning at the start and end of the programme, with immediate and 60-day follow-up evaluations.
After the programme
One year of access to the e-learning platform. Self-assessment of the skills acquired and a 30-day follow-up session with your trainer.
How to register
Registration online or on the basis of a quotation.
Lead time
11 working days after confirmation of registration.
Accessibility
Accessible to people of determination. Contact our accessibility coordinator to design a suitable solution: contact@mpf-academy.ae
Start dates
Rolling intake: in addition to the scheduled sessions, this programme can start on request.