This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

By the time a situation becomes formal, the useful options are mostly gone. Almost every case that ends badly had six earlier months where a conversation would have been enough.

How these go wrong

Two people stop speaking and everyone works around it, so it never becomes anyone's problem until one of them resigns and names the other. A complaint arrives and gets handled sympathetically but not recorded, so three months later there is no account of what was said. A performance plan is written to justify a termination that was already decided, which everyone in the room can tell, including the employee. And in almost every case, the person handling it is improvising, because nobody ever explained the difference between a conflict that needs mediation and a matter that needs a process.

What this course covers

Thirty-eight lessons across the whole arc. Conflict first: what one is made of, how escalation works and where it can still be stopped, the causes specific to organisations, the situations you will actually meet including nepotism and political conflict, working with each side separately, and mediation as a distinct role. Then the framework behind misconduct: the risk heat map, the fraud triangle of pressure, opportunity and rationalisation, cognitive bias and conflict of interest, incidents and what they indicate, the ISO 31000 cycle and escalation, warning signs at senior level, culture as a control, the three lines of defence, and a code of conduct written so it can be applied to a real decision. Then establishing facts: structured and semi-structured conversations, STAR and behavioural questions, active listening and clarifying, avoiding bias, documenting at the time, and confidentiality. Then the conversation before the procedure: why people avoid it, the six-step model, preparing a script, and running it as a cycle rather than an event. Then the most common complaint category: legal requirements, prejudice and discrimination named plainly, and training that changes behaviour and can be evidenced. Then discipline: the three types of underperformance, seven mandatory elements, specific goals, the conversation script, the legal side of signing including refusal, and metrics including the rate of legal claims. Finally separation: 38 exit questions in eight categories, the script, coding answers and finding the pattern.

What this course is not

It is not legal advice and it does not qualify you to give any. Employment obligations vary by jurisdiction and change; a lawyer remains a lawyer, and there are moments in this material where the right next step is to call one. It also does not contain a step-by-step investigation protocol — it gives you the interview technique, the risk framework and the handling of a complaint, but not a formal procedure document. And the interviewing block was recorded as candidate interviewing: the technique transfers directly, the examples do not.

Who is teaching this

I am Mike. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn, and I have worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank. More than 1.6 million students have enrolled in my courses across 185 countries, and over 150,000 specialists have gone through my programmes. I hold PHRi and SHRM-CP certifications and represent HRCI in more than ten countries.

What is included

• Lifetime access to all 38 lessons

• Active instructor support in the Q&A section

• A Udemy Certificate of Completion

• Working material: the conflict resolution algorithm, the heat map, the fraud triangle, the three lines of defence, STAR question sets, the six-step feedback model, the seven-element improvement plan with conversation script, 38 exit questions and the analytics dashboard

• Direct treatment of the parts people avoid: refusal to sign, and what to record

Where to start

Think of one situation in your organisation that everyone works around. Write down what would have to happen for it to become formal. That is usually less than you think, and it is why this course starts with conflict rather than with procedure. Enrol now and start today.