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, the most stressful area will be difficult clients, like people who don’t understand what I do or just demand services in their way, without considering our opinion of what is best for their situation."

- Lydia

"I think a stressful area in my work is that you deal with the business 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 team members lead to wasted time 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 improved 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

TUF Promise #1:

No hidden costs to Online training fees.

We will supply all online materials as part of our upfront fee. Materials include full-colour workbook downloads, Quick Reminder Guide and Certificate, and bonus pamphlet 68 TUF responses to the most common verbal challenges.

TUF Promise #2

3-Year Price-Hold Guarantee.

We will hold the price of future TUF Interactive Online Training at today’s price for the next three years for any additional TUF Interactive Online Training you want to book for your organisation if you book more than 20 Online enrolments.

TUF Promise #3

12-months mentoring support for all participants.

We will give you 12 months unlimited email mentoring support for all participants who want help in applying the TUF skills to their situation. They email us with their questions or concerns, and we give them an individualised response to help them apply the TUF skills to their particular problem.

TUF Promise #4

Priority Tech Support guarantee

We guarantee that we will work to restore any technical glitches on our website within 24 hours of notification to the TUF Interactive Online Training. (Weekends and holidays excluded).

TUF Promise #5

Confidence and Certainty Guarantee

We promise that 98% of your staff will have more confidence and certainty in dealing with challenging situations once they finish the training. They'll end up with far greater capabilities to handle almost any difficult people or difficult situations.

(Caveat: There’s always someone, somewhere who just doesn’t want to learn these things.)

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.

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.

Meet Elizabeth, the visionary Director and Lead Trainer at StageCraft, an esteemed speech and drama training center in Johor Bharu, Malaysia.

In her journey, Elizabeth encountered a challenge faced by many business owners throughout the world – navigating the intricate landscape of dealing with passionate and demanding customers. In her case the customers were parents. Whether it was concerns that needed addressing or special considerations being requested for their children, Elizabeth needed to respond. She found herself frequently exhausted at the end of the day because of the high level of emotional energy involved with these anxious parents.

Following her involvement with the TUF program Elizabeth discovered the art of acknowledging emotions, attaching a name to them, and accepting them without judgment. This newfound understanding became the cornerstone upon which she crafted her responses. She says:

“I learnt to acknowledge their emotions ... put a name to it....and try to understand the reasons for it. That helps me to frame my response to them. TUF also taught me to understand and acknowledge my own emotions in these situations, and I think that is crucial in staying grounded.”

Elizabeth shares...

“I am much more calm when responding to challenging situations and I am less reactive, preferring to give myself time to breathe and process my emotions before responding.”

Elizabeth radiates a newfound tranquility when met with the trials of challenging situations.

Her reactivity has been replaced by a deliberate calmness. She now embraces the pause, allowing herself the space to breathe, to process, and to respond with wisdom. Her story echoes the truth that in understanding both the emotions of others and our own, we unearth a wellspring of resilience. Join us in transforming emotionally demanding situations into meaningful encounters.