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Proposal · August 18, 2026

Conquering Conflict

A Workplace Conflict Resolution Proposal

Prepared for

City of Phoenix Public Library

Proposal valid through September 4, 2026

Executive summary

Conflict is a daily operating condition, not an exception.

Public libraries sit at the intersection of every conversation a city is having. Staff manage patron escalations, cross-branch coordination, shift handoffs, and the ordinary friction of teams who care deeply about their work. Conflict is not the exception in that environment; it is a daily operating condition.

Looking Forward Consulting proposes a conflict resolution engagement built specifically for the City of Phoenix Public Library. Rather than a one-time morale event, this program gives staff a shared language for naming conflict early and a practiced, repeatable method for resolving it before it reaches a supervisor, a grievance, or a patron.

Three options are outlined below. Option 3 is our recommendation: it pairs a system-wide keynote with the depth of the full Conquering Conflict course, delivered at a scale that reaches your workforce without pulling any branch offline.

The three options
Option 1Investment: $1,250

The Keynote

A 45-minute keynote on Conflict in the Workplace with a live, app-driven virtual role-play.

Duration
45 minutes
Format
Single session, in person
Audience
Unlimited attendance

The keynote opens with why workplace conflict escalates, the predictable pattern of avoidance, assumption, and eruption, and reframes conflict as information rather than failure.

Midway through, attendees receive a workplace scenario through an interactive app on their phones. They break into small groups to work the scenario toward a successful resolution, then submit their approach. Results are displayed live and debriefed from the stage, so the room learns from its own thinking rather than from a slide.

The role-play scenario will be built collaboratively with Library leadership after acceptance, so it reflects real situations your staff encounter rather than generic corporate examples.

Outcomes

  • Shared vocabulary for naming conflict early
  • Recognition of the escalation pattern before it peaks
  • One immediately usable de-escalation move
  • High-energy, low-disruption format for all-staff days
Option 2Investment: $19,800

Conquering Conflict

A 4-hour interactive course that walks teams all the way through working conflict in the workplace.

Duration
4 hours
Format
In-person interactive workshop, one session
Audience
Up to 500 attendees

Conquering Conflict is a working session, not a lecture. Participants spend the majority of the four hours practicing: naming the conflict, separating position from interest, running the conversation, and closing with an agreement that holds.

Delivered as a stand-alone session, the course can accommodate up to 500 attendees in a single room, with small-group breakouts used to keep the practice work interactive at scale. Materials include a pocket conversation guide participants keep and use on the job.

Outcomes

  • A repeatable four-step conflict conversation framework
  • Practice handling patron escalation and peer friction
  • Language for raising an issue without triggering defensiveness
  • Agreement-setting and follow-through that prevents recurrence
Option 3: RecommendedInvestment: $48,200

The Full Engagement

The keynote to align the system, followed by 18 sessions of Conquering Conflict capped at 30 employees each.

Duration
45-minute keynote + 18 eight-hour sessions
Format
In-person keynote plus rolling in-person workshop schedule
Audience
Up to 30 per session, up to 500 employees trained

The keynote sets a shared frame across the entire Library system in a single sitting. The 18 workshop sessions then convert that frame into practiced skill, reaching up to 500 employees while keeping each room small enough for real coaching.

Sessions are scheduled across branches and across the calendar so no location loses coverage. Cohorts can be mixed by branch to build cross-site relationships, or kept intact by team where a specific unit needs to work through live issues together.

This is the option we recommend because a keynote alone fades and a single workshop reaches one audience once. Together they change how the organization handles conflict, not just how a few people think about it.

Outcomes

  • System-wide alignment on a single conflict framework
  • Up to 500 employees trained to practiced competence
  • Cross-branch cohorts that build working relationships
  • Fewer escalations reaching supervisors and HR
At a glance

The Keynote

Contact time
45 minutes
Employees reached
Unlimited
Depth
Awareness
Interactive role-play
Yes (app-based)
Skill practice
Group discussion
Cross-branch reach
Single event
Investment
$1,250

Conquering Conflict

Contact time
4 hours
Employees reached
Up to 500
Depth
Skill-building
Interactive role-play
Yes (live)
Skill practice
Moderate
Cross-branch reach
One session
Investment
$19,800

The Full Engagement

Contact time
45 min + 8 hours
Employees reached
Up to 500
Depth
Awareness + mastery
Interactive role-play
Yes (both formats)
Skill practice
Extensive
Cross-branch reach
All branches; 18 sessions
Investment
$48,200
Our approach

Highly interactive, with tools staff take back to the job.

Every option in this proposal is built to be worked, not watched. Staff spend the majority of their time on their feet, in conversation, and in structured practice, and they leave with tools they can use on shift the next day.

Practice, not lecture

Content is delivered in short segments, each followed immediately by an activity: paired role-play, small-group case work, live scripting of a difficult conversation, and observer feedback rounds.

Scenarios drawn from your floor

Activities use situations Library staff actually face; patron escalations, shift handoffs, cross-branch coordination, and peer friction, so the practice transfers directly to the job.

Reusable tools they keep

Participants leave with a pocket conversation guide, a de-escalation script framework, a conflict-mapping worksheet, and an agreement and follow-through template, all sized to be used in the moment.

Built to be reused by teams

Supervisors receive a short facilitation card for running a 15-minute team refresher, so the language stays alive in huddles and staff meetings after we leave.

A shared vocabulary across branches

Because every group works the same models and the same tools, staff from different branches can name and resolve conflict the same way, which is what makes the skill hold system-wide.

Our recommendation

Option 3: the keynote makes it shared, the sessions make it real.

A keynote alone creates a good morning and a fading memory. A single workshop changes one room of thirty people. Delivered together, the keynote gives the entire Library system one vocabulary on one day, and the eighteen sessions turn that vocabulary into a skill up to 500 employees have actually practiced.

The 30-person cap is deliberate. Conflict skill is built through repetition with feedback, and that is only possible in a small room. Eighteen sessions is what it takes to hold that standard while still reaching the workforce.

Scheduling is staged across branches and across the calendar, so coverage is never compromised and cohorts can be composed to build relationships across locations.

Course outline: Conquering Conflict

The difference between the 4-hour and the 8-hour session is depth. The 4-hour format covers the same four segments at a working pace, while the 8-hour format allows us to teach each concept more thoroughly and to run significantly more interactive, application-based activities, so participants practice each skill on real situations rather than seeing it demonstrated once.

Segment 1

What conflict actually is

Sources of workplace conflict, the escalation curve, and the cost of avoidance. Self-assessment of individual conflict style.

Segment 2

Preparing the conversation

Separating position from interest, checking assumptions, and choosing the moment. Scripting a real conflict each participant is currently carrying.

Segment 3

Running the conversation

Live paired practice with observer feedback. De-escalation language, handling defensiveness, and staying in the conversation when it gets hot.

Segment 4

Closing and holding the agreement

Reaching workable agreements, documenting follow-through, escalation paths, and a personal 30-day commitment.

Logistics
  • Sessions scheduled in coordination with Library leadership to protect branch coverage.
  • For option 3, we need seating for 30 with movable chairs, projector or large display, and audio.
  • Keynote requires wireless internet for the app-based role-play; participants use their own phones.
  • All participant materials, workbooks, and the pocket conversation guide are provided.
  • The role-play scenario and app configuration will be developed jointly with the Library following acceptance.
  • Session cap of 30 is enforced to preserve coaching quality; waitlisted staff roll to the next session.
Investment
The Keynote
45 minutes
$1,250
Conquering Conflict
4 hours
$19,800
The Full Engagement
45-minute keynote + 18 eight-hour sessions
$48,200

Travel within the Phoenix metro area and all participant materials are included in each quoted figure. All investment quotes are dependent on the client providing training facilities in the Phoenix Metro area.

About Looking Forward Consulting

Looking Forward Consulting works with public-sector and community-serving organizations on the human side of operations: conflict, communication, and team resilience. Our work is practical, evidence-based, and built around the actual conditions of the workplaces we serve.

Every engagement is customized. We do not deliver stock content; scenarios, examples, and case material are developed with the client so that what happens in the room maps directly onto what happens on the floor.

Next steps
  1. 1Select an option and confirm the preferred delivery window.
  2. 2Introductory call with Library leadership to align on goals and current pain points.
  3. 3Joint development of the role-play scenario and any branch-specific case material.
  4. 4Confirm the session calendar and issue registration to staff.