Conflict is rising at work.
A recent Sunday Times article — “Blessed are the peacemakers when there’s war at work” — highlights what many leaders, coaches, and organisations are already experiencing: conflict is becoming more visible, more complex, and more costly.
UK businesses are losing an estimated £28.5 billion a year to workplace conflict. The biggest cost? People leaving.
And when conflict does surface, the response is often reactive.
External facilitators (including those ORSC trained) are brought in. Coaching & Mediation sessions are run. Teams are asked to come together and repair what’s already broken.
This work matters.
But it raises an important question:
What if we’re focusing too late in the process?
When Conflict Reaches Breaking Point
The article shares the story of a facilitator brought in with just one week to resolve a leadership team conflict.
It’s a familiar pattern.
Tensions build quietly — through personality clashes, misalignment, unspoken frustrations.
Conversations are avoided.
Differences are softened or suppressed.
Until eventually, something gives.
At that point, the focus becomes resolution. Repair. Finding a way forward from rupture.
And while that can be effective, it often addresses the symptoms — not the underlying system that created the conflict in the first place.
The Shift We’re Seeing
What’s changing — and what we’re increasingly seeing in our work — is a move towards something more proactive.
As our Director Nairy shared in the article:
“They’re aware that conflict is an inevitable consequence of us working together. If we want high-performing teams, we need to facilitate that conversation.”
More leaders are recognising that conflict isn’t a sign that something has gone wrong.
It’s a natural byproduct of people working together — bringing different perspectives, priorities, and experiences into the same space.
The real question is not whether conflict exists.
It’s whether a team has the capacity to work with it.
Why Conflict Feels Harder Than Ever
The article points to several shifts that many organisations will recognise:
- Teams formed remotely, without strong relational foundations
- Increased awareness of psychological safety — sometimes leading to over-editing and avoidance
- More complexity, pressure, and pace in organisational life
All of this creates an environment where conflict is both more likely — and harder to navigate.
As one contributor in the article noted, the desire to avoid making the workplace feel “toxic” can actually lead to less honesty, less disagreement, and fewer opportunities for repair.
In other words:
The very thing we’re trying to avoid ends up building beneath the surface.
From Conflict Resolution to Conflict Capability
Traditionally, organisations have invested in conflict resolution.
But what’s needed now is something deeper: conflict capability.
The ability to:
- Notice what’s happening beneath the surface
- Name tensions before they escalate
- Stay in conversation when things feel uncomfortable
- Work with difference, rather than smoothing it over
This isn’t about eliminating conflict.
It’s about changing our relationship to it.
Building the Muscle, Not Just Fixing the Problem
One of the most powerful insights from the article is the idea of building a “muscle” for resolving conflict.
Because like any muscle, this develops over time — through practice, awareness, and experience.
It’s not something that can be outsourced or switched on in a crisis.
It needs to be embedded into how teams relate, communicate, and work together from the start.
This is where many organisations are now focusing their attention:
- Investing in team development early
- Building relational awareness alongside technical capability
- Supporting leaders to facilitate, not avoid, difficult conversations
Where ORSC Fits In
At its core, ORSC (Organisation and Relationship Systems Coaching) is about exactly this.
It provides the tools, frameworks, and — importantly — the practice needed to work with relationships and systems in real time.
Including conflict.
Rather than seeing conflict as something to manage or resolve, ORSC invites us to see it as:
- A signal
- A source of information
- An opportunity for deeper alignment and understanding
But this requires a shift in skill — and in mindset.
From avoiding → to engaging
From fixing → to facilitating
From individual perspective → to system awareness
What Becomes Possible
When teams build the capacity to work with conflict well, the impact is significant:
- Conversations become more honest and productive
- Trust deepens, rather than erodes under pressure
- Decisions improve, because different perspectives are surfaced
- Teams become more resilient — able to navigate challenge without breaking
And perhaps most importantly:
Conflict stops being something to fear.
A Different Starting Point
So rather than waiting for conflict to escalate to the point of breakdown, the question becomes:
What would it look like to build this capability from the beginning?
To create teams that are not only high-performing, but also equipped to handle the realities of working in relationship.
Because conflict isn’t going anywhere.
But our ability to work with it — that’s something we can develop.
Ready to Turn Insight into Impact?
If you’re ready to move beyond insight and start applying ORSC in a way that creates real change, there are different opportunities to begin:
ORSC Fundamentals – May 14th & 15th (Virtual)
A practical introduction to ORSC, where you’ll begin to understand and work with the patterns, emotions, and dynamics that sit beneath conflict.
ORSC Master Class – May 20th – London
Join us this May for a 4-hour immersive masterclass designed for leaders, ORSC practitioners, and team coaches ready to go beyond tools — and into real-world application.
Summer In-Person Fast Track – London
An immersive cohort experience designed to help you build confidence in working with relationships and conflict in real time — alongside others on the same journey.
Conflict isn’t going anywhere. But how we meet it individually, and as teams, can change everything.
