Proven tools for your team to manage emotional clients, reduce stress and build loyalty

Manage your own emotions

Keep calm when they explode

Manage emotional clients

Secrets to de-escalate emotional moments

Restore team equilibrium

Recovery techniques for resilience

"In my experience as a small animal veterinarian, the most stressful area will be difficult clients, like people who don’t understand the importance of care or just demand services in their way, without considering our opinion of what is best for their pet."

- Lydia

I think a stressful area is that you deal with an owner’s concern and the pressure that they put on everything to ALWAYS go well, and in fact it doesn't always happen.

- Karla

"The biggest problem is the amount of communication that needs to occur in a very short amount of time. Poor communication and coordination between veterinary teams lead to longer veterinary visits and communication with clients is truncated leaving clients misunderstanding and leaving them feeling taken advantage of."

- Sarah

To avoid the pain of revisiting and healing these deep hurts some became angry, aggressive, and even threatened violence. Not only did I have to manage my own fear in the face of their emotional reactions I also needed to work out what I could do to help them calm down so that they could do the therapeutic work of their recovery.

During my five years at that hospital, I realized just how much emotions caused disruptions in people’s lives. While the consequences of not managing emotions were far reaching for people with drug and alcohol addictions, the inability to manage emotions for anyone can be problematic. The end results can range from minor distress to severe mental health conditions and even suicide.

What I learned in those five years has been the basis of the TUF Thriving Under Fire program that I’ve developed over more than twenty years working in different countries and organisations. I’ve worked with groups and individuals from front line workers to executives in the C-suite in just about every commercial sector.

Your team will benefit from our online training.

For more than twenty years Thriving Under Fire has conducted evaluation research to continually improve our training delivery. Learners have told us of the benefits that have come from this program. Our Return-on-Investment (ROI) evaluation at Auckland Motorway Alliance showed not only a dollar positive benefit for each dollar invested but also a benefit in the intangibles such as improve morale, better internal communication and an improved appreciation of the company. A parallel evaluation showed a significant improvement in their monthly customer survey results.

A major Regional Hospital Board in New Zealand wanted a low-cost training package that would not take their workers from the frontline for too long. They gave their workers access to the TUF Thriving Under Fire Interactive program to help them deal with increasingly aggressive patient encounters.

At the beginning of the course, participants self-assessed their perceived level of confidence in dealing with aggressive patients. They did the same at the end of the course. The results were striking.

Before the course nearly 17% were not confident at all in managing difficult situations. At the end of the course no one reported that they were not confident.

Before the course 26% reported they were moderately confident at managing difficult situations. After the course this number increased to 49%.

Before the course 36% reported that they were quite confident at managing difficult situations after the course this figure had jump to over 73%.

John has worked as a teacher, pastoral assistant, university chaplain, counsellor, Race Relations mediator, Life Skills tutor, psychodramatist and trainer of counsellors in a residential drug and alcohol treatment hospital. Twenty-five years ago, he established TUF: Thriving Under Fire to assist people to manage emotions in a business context. He is a founding director of Workplace Skills Development Academy New Zealand and works in many countries including Malaysia, Singapore and Bangladesh, where he delivers training to senior level corporate executives. He is a strong advocate for communicating ideas through story.

Additional to his work experiences John has university qualifications in Anthropology, Theology, and Adult Education. He is a Fellow of the New Zealand Association of Training and Development (NZATD), and a member of NZATD Board of Studies. He’s been a member of the New Zealand Human Resources Institute (HRINZ). He is a qualified Trainer, Educator, Practitioner in the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Psychodrama Association (AANZPA) and was chair of AANZPA’s Ethics Committee for more than seven years.

He was a member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC) for ten years and he served on their Ethics Committee. He was an accredited member of The National Speakers Association of New Zealand (NSANZ) where he developed his skills as a speaker and conference presenter.

John’s expertise has been acknowledged on several occasions by the New Zealand Association of Training and Development in their annual training awards. He reads and writes regularly about training matters.

Publications:

Faisandier, John (2009) Thriving Under Fire: turn difficult customers into business success.

Wellington: Steele Roberts Publishers.

John has written a variety of articles in HRINZ, NZATD and AANZPA magazines and journals over the years.

Awards:

2008 – NZATD Education Trust Award for Facilitation

2010 – NZATD Education Trust Award for Innovation

2021 – NZATD Innovative Technology Award

Manage your learning

Unit 1. Where this course can help and the best way to proceed

Unit 2. Your current ability and what you want to learn

Unit 3. Complex human communication – understanding yourself and others

Manage the moment

Unit 4. When the other person goes APE – how to respond using A.P.E. principle

Unit 5. The brain under fire – simple neuroscience explained and applied

Unit 6. Understanding human dynamics – the Drama Triangle and the Winner’s Triangle

Unit 7. Reviewing and applying your learning – so far

Manage the relationship

Unit 8. Feelings – how they affect you and others. Developing empathy

Unit 9. The ‘OK Corral’ – staying positive about yourself and others

Unit 10. Communication dynamics – how Parent, Adult, Child ego states change communication

Unit 11. De-escalation – what to do when they don’t calm down

Unit 12. Challenging groups – special needs clients and those affected by drugs and alcohol.

Unit 13. Understanding different cultures – considerations for migrants and refugees.

Manage yourself

Unit 14. Keeping yourself safe – what to do when things become threatening.

Unit 15. Looking after yourself – debrief emotionally, alter your thinking, and take care of your body.

Unit 16. Final review and applications to your life

The Thriving Under Fire program has been successful in giving a wide range of people the skills for managing emotions over many years.

We know this training works.

However, if for any reason, wthin 30 days, you are not satisfied with what you are getting in the program then we will give you your full money back. No questions asked.

On top of that we will continue to support you and your team with free tips and skills training, unless you ask us not to send these helpful resources to you.

"I see many patients who are inadequately diagnosed and mistreated because the previous veterinarian did not take the time to listen to the client and discuss the problem thoroughly. The “just the shots, doc” attitude is more pervasive now among clients than it was earlier in my career. There are many clients who believe the vet is trying to bilk them out of money. Educating these clients is usually possible, but it takes a long time, (and skills)."

- Kevin K

"The clients treating us like absolute crap and being entitled and wanting immediate gratification realizing things take time and cost money. We are held to way more ridiculous standards than human medicine. When is the last time you spoke to your doctor directly like our clients talk to us? We are expected to drop everything and immediately service everyone. As a profession we’ve created this for ourselves; we need to be protected. For me it’s not the job working with the animals; it’s not the death; it’s the humans. All they want to do is complain and demand and it’s getting old."

- Alicia

"It is very stressful. Clients blame us when they wait too long or do not do their due diligence. Or even if they have no money. Right now, post-Covid we are seeing more people with less patience overall. This makes our job even more stressful."

- Jamie