When is it time for a Small Business Intervention? With special guest Tulsi van de Graaff, Communication and Conflict Expert, Brave People Solutions

Small Biz Matters – #189 Providing the small business community with educational content and advocacy since 2014
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 30 November 2020

It’s pretty difficult these days to run a small business and be free of the conflict experience. From managing staff to negotiating with suppliers and clients, it’s bound to happen at some point. And then there’s the serious conflict scenarios such as between business partners or family members which, when you add personal life into the mix, can be very destructive.

Because we ourselves are human who are dealing with humans we can come across conflict pretty regularly in our everyday business dealings.

So if the human aspect of running a small business can’t be removed and the threat of conflict is ever present, what can we as small business owners do to mitigate the risk? And when is the best time to seek help when it threatens to overwhelm you and all you’ve worked for?

As always, it’s always best to get support before your business is threatened so here today with us is Tulsi van de Graaff, Conflict Expert with Brave People Solutions to take us through some strategies and help us understand what conflict resolution looks like and how it can help.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• What the difference between working with corporates and small business
  • It’s a missing link – the people side of things breaking down undermines everything
  • Everyone is tiptoeing around issues, not calling out the wrong or inappropriate action
• What do the steps to reconciliation look like?
  • How do you recognise conflict before it becomes all out war?
  • Signs that things are unravelling
  • How do you miss them?
• Is it just a matter of being present in the office? No, it goes to the hart of communication and being valued. We need to know what our role is, and what the expectations are.
  • The timing is important.
• What do the conversations look like ?
  • Start with the basics – do what is my role?
  • Without that people can feel unsupported.
• Teaching the leaders how to lead – and that can be you the business owner.

To find out more go to their website: https://bravepeoplesolutions.com.au/

About our Guest:

Tulsi is a partner at Brave People Solutions and a former lawyer with a psychology degree and a mediation, coaching, investigation and counselling background. For the last 10 years she has worked with organisations including small businesses, to solve their communication, conflict, leadership and workplace culture challenges and build impressive and strong teams, leaders, and workplaces.  

Tulsi presents on various topics including communication, conflict resolution, building a positive performance culture and leadership and teaches Masters of Science students on Communication and Conflict Management.  She has written articles on a range of topics including resilience, communication, conflict resolution and building a positive performance culture including for Wellbeing Magazine and the Australian Journal of Pharmacy.

Tulsi previously worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission investigating and mediating discrimination complaints, was a child protection investigator for the Department of Education and a pre-marriage counsellor for CatholicCare.

Tulsi is also a passionate volunteer at Dress for Success, a charity that supports women in need find employment and runs workshops including on resilience, self esteem and confidence.