9 Free Conflict Management Activities & Exercises for Training Adults

Conflict management activities are ready-to-run training exercises used by HR professionals, facilitators, and L&D teams to help employees and teams improve communication, resolve workplace conflict, and build collaboration skills. These activities include role-play scenarios, listening exercises, and structured group problem-solving tasks.

If you are offering conflict management training, these 9 activities should be useful for you. Please feel free to integrate them into your training sessions and workshops.

9 Conflict Management Activities

While the quick list above gives you an overview, this section dives deeper into how to use each conflict management activity effectively in your training sessions. Whether you’re leading a workshop, running team training, or teaching conflict resolution skills, these activities will help.

Activity	Time Needed	Group Size	Training Outcome
Active Listening Exercise	15–20 mins	Pairs or Small Groups	Improves empathy and listening skills
Debate vs Dialogue	30 mins	Small–Medium Groups	Distinguishes combative vs collaborative communication
Positive Definitions	20 mins	Individual or Group	Reframes mindset around conflict
Problem-Solving Circle	25 mins	Medium–Large Groups	Encourages collaboration and shared solutions
Silent Discussion	15–25 mins	Any Size	Supports introverts; fosters reflection
Consensus-Building Exercise	30–40 mins	Small Teams	Develops negotiation and agreement skills
Conflict Escalation Ladder	20 mins	Individual or Small Group	Helps visualize stages of conflict
The Orange Negotiation	25 mins	Pairs or Small Group	Practices compromise and needs analysis
The Five Whys	15–20 mins	Individual or Team	Uncovers root cause of workplace conflict

1. Active Listening Exercise

This active listening vs passive listening activity helps employees better hear and reflect on what others say. Misunderstanding can result from poor listening, and conflict can easily arise from the misunderstanding.

This is a great activity for running conflict resolution training through active listening exercises.

Activity: 15 minutes.

Getting Started:

1. Ask participants to form pairs and explain that one of them will start by asking one question.

2. The other person will then either just answer the question or answer and follow up with another question, but which must build on the previous question.

So, they cannot change the topic. The follow-up question must be connected to the previous question.

3. The challenge is to see how long they can continue the dialogue using just one question as a foundation for the conversation.

4. Give them up to 4 minutes.

5. Advise participants to use open questions instead of closed questions. Closed questions are those that require just a yes or no answer.

For example, ‘Do you like coffee?’ The answer is usually either yes or no. Open questions start with ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘why’, ‘who’, ‘when’, ‘where’, and they usually require more than a yes or no answer.

For example, if you ask: ‘What drinks do you like?’ the person who answers can say a lot of things and elaborate.

6. After the first round, you can have a second round so that the other person now has the chance to start asking the first question.

7. At the end of the two rounds, start a discussion. You can ask questions such as:

• How challenging did you find this activity?
• What did you learn from it?
• How could you use open questions during a conflict?
• How could this questioning technique help during a conflict?

Download this Conflict Resolution Activity for adults (PDF)

2. Debate vs Dialogue

This activity resembles a role-play debate format, where participants get to experience both roles in the activity, giving them the chance to see how a conflict might feel from both perspectives.

Activity: Allow 20 minutes.

1. Start by randomly putting the participants together in pairs.

2. The two people in each pair now need to stand facing each other. They will then hold out one of their fists (like you would if playing rock, paper, scissors) and as they do so, they need to say the expression: “Say. Something. New.” and as soon as the word “New” has been said, each person must say the name of any item (such as fish, book, ball, cup”.

If you wish, you can slightly adapt this activity to more closely fit the industry the participants work in. If they are medical professionals, for example, doing this as an icebreaker, you could ask them to name items that are medical-related.

3. Next, ask participants to debate and argue the case as to why their item is better than the other person’s item. Why is their item more important, or more useful, etc?

4. Give them about 5 minutes to debate with each other.

After five minutes, pause the game and ask participants to engage in dialogue rather than debating this time.

So this means asking each other questions about their items, listening to the answers, and coming to an agreement between them. Allow them about 5 minutes for this.

5. At the end of the exercise, start a discussion with the whole class, but first explain that, in a debate, it is generally an effort to forcefully prove that your idea is better than the other person’s. The intention is to ‘win’ the debate by finding faults with the other person’s argument.

Dialogue, on the other hand, is a much more two-way thing that tends to involve more understanding and cooperation. With dialogue, there is normally greater value put on the strengths of the other person’s argument.

6. Questions you can ask to start the discussion might include:

• How did you feel about each situation (debate vs dialogue)?
• How did you react to each situation?
• How would you behave in real conflict situations?
• How did things change when you switched from debate to dialogue?

Download this Debate vs Dialogue Conflict Management Game (PDF)

3. Positive Definitions

Activity: 20 minutes.

Activity Aims: This is a fairly basic conflict resolution activity that targets trying to find positive ways to redefine the meaning of conflict resolution and management.

Furthermore, it acts as a great icebreaker given that it’s a fairly simple task.

1. Get the activity started by splitting participants into groups of 4 or 5 and then hand them a large marker pen and a large sheet of paper.

2. Now ask the teams to answer these three questions:

• How would you define conflict management?
• What negative problems might be caused by a conflict in the workplace?
• Are there any positive outcomes that you believe can result from conflict at work?

3. Under the headings “Definition”, “Negatives”, and “Positives”, they should list their answers to the three questions above. Allow 10 minutes for this part of the activity.

4. After the 10 minutes are up, start a class discussion by asking one person from each group to read his/her group’s definition, positives, and negatives that they listed. Then allow 5 minutes for a general class discussion about the three questions and the answers each group gave.

4. Problem-Solving Circle

This method is also known in workplace training as a restorative circle, and is great for conflict resolution.

Number of Participants: 6 to 10 can work very well, but you can adapt this according to the size of the class.

Time Needed: 30 minutes.

Items Needed:

• Flip chart or whiteboard
• Markers
• Conflict scenario cards (optional)
• Notepads and pens for participants (optional)

Purpose: Explain that a part of conflict management is creating a team atmosphere where there is an emphasis on active listening, showing respect for each other’s opinions, and working towards a common solution as a team.

This problem-solving activity for conflict resolution for adults, such as employees.

How to Run the Activity: Before starting the activity, place chairs in a circle for the 6 to 10 participants in each group (the participants can help to organise this). Within each circle, the participants should be able to see each other.

Next, present the conflict scenario sheet (I have listed some example scenarios below) and ask the teams to spend 5 minutes reading their activity.

Now give the groups 20 minutes for each group to discuss the problem and to come up with ideas and suggestions for solving the conflict.

It can be worth handing each team an item that, when held in a team member’s hand, means that they are the only ones allowed to talk. This can help each member have a fair chance to talk and come up with ideas if the item is passed around. (I actually use a golf ball as it is easy to use).

After the 20 minutes are up, ask each group to give 2 suggestions on a solution for the problem they discussed. As the facilitator, write their answer as a bullet point on a flip chart or whiteboard.

Now have a class discussion about the best option from the ideas listed on the whiteboard.

Finally, with the solution agreed, ask participants to comment on how they feel the activity went, how working together helped or not, and how important or not they feel listening skills were in the activity.

Conflict Scenario Example To Use

Scenario 1 Example: Resources Issue

Two departments in a fashion label are competing for limited resources (e.g., marketing budget and stock), which are crucial for their respective projects. Tensions are high as both believe their project should be prioritized.

Scenario 2 Example: Change Management

A major organizational change is being implemented, but employees are resistant. There is a conflict between management, who believe the change is necessary, and employees who feel it is disruptive and poorly managed.

5. Silent Discussion

Number of Participants: 4 or more people.

Time Needed: 20 minutes.

Items Needed:

• Large sheets of paper
• Coloured Markers

Purpose: This is one of the best conflict management activities for looking at reflective thinking and written communication skills. We sometimes use writing, such as through email, to try to resolve conflicts (especially in a hybrid workplace where we might manage employees both online and in-person).

When using writing to try to manage conflict, we still need to strike the right balance, so this activity is aimed at seeing how we might best handle conflict with writing.

How to Run the Activity: Begin by splitting participants into small groups of 5 people (you can adapt the size of the groups as needed).

Then hand each group a large sheet of paper, a set of different coloured markers, and a ‘Conflict Scenario’ (I have listed some examples at the bottom of this activity that you could use as scenarios).

Now allow 15 minutes for each group to read and consider their scenario.

Note that they need to do the next part of the activity silently.

Participants should now write down (on a large sheet of paper and with each person using a different coloured marker) their thoughts and ideas about the scenario. They might wish to include ideas, thoughts, and solutions in what they write down, for example.

They should also write down comments and ideas in reply to other people’s written ideas from their group.

After the 15 minutes are up for the silent writing part of the activity, ask participants to read all of the writing on the sheet and to reflect on the whole discussion that was written.

Now allow 5 to 10 minutes for groups to discuss their thoughts on the written conversation.

What themes emerged, what solutions were given, and now that they can talk, what do they think about the written replies and comments?

Next, allow 10 minutes for a whole-class discussion.

Ask each group for a basic explanation of their scenario, what solutions came up, and for feedback on how the activity went as a whole.

Example Scenarios

1. Meeting Disruptions:

• Patrick is a team member who keeps interrupting other people in the team meeting, and it is clear that most people are getting tired of it. Patrick’s actions seem to be dividing people and creating unnecessary tension in the team, and it appears to be starting to affect productivity. What should be done?

2. Feedback Conflict:

• Suzy recently had her quarterly performance review, and during the review, she had a heated argument with her manager, Mark, as she felt the feedback was unfair and unjustified. How can this conflict be resolved in a fair and constructive manner?

For more exercises based around challenging workplace behavior and how employees can respond to it, you may also find these dealing with difficult people training activities useful.

This activity connects with and supports what is known as restorative practices, which are about repairing harm through structured dialogue.

6. Consensus-Building Exercise

Number of Participants: 6-12 (can be adjusted for larger groups by dividing into smaller teams)

Time Needed: 35 minutes

Items Needed:

• Flip chart or whiteboard and markers
• Notepads and pens for participants

Purpose:  The Consensus Building Exercise is a handy conflict resolution activity because it is aimed at helping teach collaboration and compromise in order to resolve conflicts. In this activity, groups must come to an agreeable solution using listening and negotiation skills.

How to Run the Activity: Start by diving people into groups of 3 to 5 people and then hand each group a conflict scenario printout (you will need to prepare a couple of example conflict scenarios such as conflict in different departments fighting over the budget, personality conflict in the workplace, or employee unhappiness and conflict due to some employees working harder than others).

Now allocate 15 minutes for this main part of the activity.

In their groups, participants must read and then start discussing the conflict scenario and brainstorm ideas for solutions.

Before they start, though, I recommend emphasising the need for everyone in each group to be afforded an equal chance to speak and for participants to try and focus as much on listening as they do speaking. Explain that listening is an essential skill for solving conflicts.

Ask them to write down all the ideas they can think of.

After the 15 minutes are over, allow participants another 10 minutes in their groups to decide on one final solution from the options they listed. The group as a whole will ideally reach an agreement.

Next, have a class discussion and, as the training facilitator, ask each group for their scenario and what solution they chose. Write the answers on the flipchart or whiteboard.

Allow another 5 minutes for general class discussion about what worked well, what didn’t, and what they learned.

If you are looking for team-building activities or conflict resolution activities for high-level managers, this can be a good option.

7. Conflict Escalation Ladder

My favourite of the conflict management activities listed in this top 10 is the Conflict Escalation Ladder. Participants always seem to come up with some great solutions for this activity, perhaps because the visual nature of this activity helps more people become involved.

Number of Participants: 6 or more.

Needed: 35 minutes.

Items Needed:

• Large poster paper or whiteboard
• Markers and pens
• Sticky notes

Purpose: Some people are visual thinkers, so this is a great activity for these types of managers.

This activity uses a visual way to assess how bad conflicts are and helps to give us an idea of the best and most appropriate solution.

How to Run the Activity: On the whiteboard, draw a BIG thermometer and draw lines to create 5 or 6 sections on the thermometer, which you will label with words that represent various conflict levels, such as “Mild” or “Severe”. The highest related level conflict will go on top, and the lowest on the bottom.

Now we will give each participant a pre-prepared conflict scenario on a sticky note (these scenarios will range from minor issues to major workplace disputes).

Participants now need to read their scenario, and then they need to place the scenario sticky note where they think it belongs on the thermometer.

As each person places their scenario on the thermometer one at a time, you can ask them to read out their scenario and then allow the other participants also to discuss where they think it should go or if they agree with the placement.

This part of the task will likely take about 10 minutes.

If you have a very large group, you might want to separate them into groups of around 10 people and let them have their own whiteboard (so consider beforehand the number of participants you expect when planning this activity).

Now allow 15 minutes for a group discussion on each scenario placed on the thermometer, starting with the lowest placed one. They should discuss the resolution for each.

8. The Orange Negotiation

The Orange Negotiation is a great activity to run for participants, particularly if you are giving training on conflict resolution, as employees tend to love doing this game.

Time Needed: 25 minutes

Number of Participants: Any number of participants.

Items Needed:

• A large sheet of paper for each pair
• Markers and pens
• Sticky notes

Purpose: This is another one of those conflict management activities that is perfect for visual thinkers. This activity uses a visual way to tackle conflict and is especially good for training managers who manage teams.

How to Run the Activity: Split all the participants into pairs and in each pair, one person will take on the role of Clive (who wants the orange because the juice has recently been discovered to have life-saving properties for a disease) and one the role of Cath (who wants the orange for its peel which can be used as a crucial element for nuclear facilities).

In their pairs, they must negotiate and debate over who should get the orange.

They should write down the bullet points in favour of each of their case for why they should get given the orange.

Allow 10 minutes for the task above.

Now give them another 10 minutes to use the paper and markers to try and map out and draw visually (and using sticky notes as needed) to try and find a satisfactory solution that both agree on.

The final agreement should be written at the bottom of the paper. Now bring everyone back together as a class and have a 5-minute general discussion on how the activity went. Did they come to an agreement, and how was this achieved? Was there a specific strategy that worked?

9. The Five Whys

Purpose:

The Five Whys exercise is easy to run and is great for teaching how to get to the root of a conflict. This activity is best used when training teams and when trying to get to the cause of real-world issues. This activity,y in other words, is ideal for team meetings for conflict resolution.

Number of Participants: 2 or more people.

Items Needed:

• Whiteboard or large paper
• Markers or pens
• Sticky notes (optional)

How to Run the Activity: If you are the manager, be prepared with the resolution exercise scenario, i.e., based on something going on in the workplace that needs solving.

If you are the training facilitator, make sure that you talk with the manager/s concerned connected to the team you are training and find out what conflicts you can use.

Classic scenarios are ones related to why a team keeps missing deadlines, why staff turnover is so high in a department, or why sales are falling.

For the activity itself, the group will ask a why question, such as “Why have our sales started to drop dramatically”?

The answer might be something like “Because a new competitor has come into the market and is directly challenging us.”

Now the group needs to ask a second, third, fourth, and fifth why question and answer each.

The five whys activity can help you get to the root cause of issues and come up with ideas and solutions. It’s a great conflict management exercise for teams.

How These Activities Fit the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model

Many of these conflict management activities align with the five conflict-handling modes described in the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating.

For example, “The Orange Negotiation” encourages compromising, while “Consensus-Building” promotes collaborating.

Trainers can select activities that best support their desired behavioral outcomes within this proven psychological framework.

Using Ice Breakers in Conflict Management Workshops

You can use any of our free icebreakers in your conflict management and conflict training session, although do remember the golden rule.

Any activity or game you use as an icebreaker should relate in some form to the overall training title and to the overall aims of the course.

Having said that, for a topic such as conflict management, the ‘The Positive Definitions Game Ice Breaker’ above gets people working in teams from the start and fits in with the course title itself, so this is quite a good starting activity.

Conflict Resolution Training Materials

Did you find these conflict management activities useful, and are you still in need of the PowerPoint slides for your training? You can find the conflict resolution training materials below: