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Overview
This talk offers a practical journey into the art of managing difficult personalities in the workplace-an essential skill in today’s dynamic, high-pressure professional environments. As teams become more diverse and fast-paced, interpersonal friction is no longer an exception but an ongoing challenge that demands emotional intelligence, resilience, and strategic communication.
The session is structured around a four-part learning journey that equips participants with tools and insights to navigate complex personalities, reduce friction, and cultivate productive relationships. It reframes difficult personalities not as immovable obstacles, but as catalysts for growth, empathy, and more resilient team dynamics.
Participants will examine the psychological drivers behind challenging behaviours, learn to set clear and respectful boundaries, and apply adaptive strategies for communication, feedback, and collaboration. From managing a passive-aggressive colleague to constructively engaging a dominating manager, the talk provides real-world tactics that strengthen both individual composure and collective team cohesion.
Through models of emotional regulation, conflict de-escalation, psychological safety, and solution-oriented thinking, participants will gain the confidence and clarity needed to transform difficult interactions into opportunities for learning, leadership and long-term career success.
Why you should Attend
- Difficult workplace personalities aren’t just annoyances-they’re leadership tests. Whether it’s a passive-aggressive teammate, a resistant employee, or an overly critical manager, how you respond can either escalate conflict or reinforce your credibility and composure
- This session is designed for professionals who want to lead with emotional intelligence, set clear boundaries, and turn tension into teamwork. You’ll walk away with tools to de-escalate drama, communicate with clarity, and build psychological safety across diverse personality types
- Are you equipped to manage tension without losing momentum?
- Do your team dynamics suffer under pressure-or strengthen?
- Are you reacting to conflict-or leveraging it for growth?
- This is your opportunity to turn personality clashes into catalysts for collaboration, resilience, and team alignment
- By joining this session, you’ll gain a practical framework for handling difficult interactions with professionalism while creating a culture that supports constructive communication and shared success
- This is not just a talk-it’s your emotional intelligence advantage
Areas Covered in the Session
- Understand and Navigate Difficult Personalities: Identify common challenging workplace behaviors, uncover their psychological drivers, and assess their impact on morale, communication, and team culture
- Communicate and Resolve with Confidence: Apply emotionally intelligent strategies, assertive communication, and boundary-setting techniques to manage conflict, reduce tension, and turn difficult interactions into opportunities for growth
- Enable Collaboration amidst Personality Clashes: Build psychological safety, lead adaptively, and facilitate constructive feedback to strengthen team cohesion and minimize interpersonal friction
- Cultivate Resilience and Long-Term Success: Develop emotional resilience, adopt a solution-oriented mindset, and promote a positive, inclusive culture that sustains high performance and professional growth
Who Will Benefit
- Executives
- Managers
- Supervisors
- Team Leaders
- HR
Speaker Profile
Claudio Chiste is the CEO of the Centre for Leadership & Coaching. He has served as the Chairman of Coaches & Mentors of South Africa (Comensa) for the Western Cape, the Comensa Social & Ethics Committee and as President of the Cape Chapter of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa (PSASA). He is a certified Master NLP Practitioner and Master Life Coach.
Claudio’s intrinsic values have influenced his belief in making a difference for the common good, by helping others to adopt a mindset of resilience, and engendering a culture which embraces leadership, regardless of seniority. Claudio is a firm believer that nothing is instant, only instant coffee, results take time. The important thing is to progress, creating non-intimidating micro-goals on a daily basis.
His varied background allows him to have a multi-angled approach, with a background as a leader whilst a combat officer in the South African Navy, and as a specialist banker in London with Investec Bank, during which time he was in charge of an international award-wining business association focused on promoting both business and the next generation, called Shipping Professional Network London (SPNL) serving as chairman for 8 years.
He holds a Master of Science from City St. George's, University of London, a Bachelor of Commerce with Honors from the University of Cape Town, and a Bachelor in Military Science, majoring in Mathematics and Nautical Science from the South African Military Academy. He is currently a PhD candidate at Stellenbosch University, focusing on Leadership.
Instructor
Claudio Chiste