Neighborhood thrift grew an $18,000 gift to about $500,000 annual income all with a purposeful plan, commitment and a great set of workplace conflict resolution skills.
Anthony “AP” Armour spoke at Nightingale Resolutions informative gathering this past Thursday on what affects conflict resolution has played in the success of his company, Neighborhood Industries. The two social enterprises that make up the company are Neighborhood Thrift, located in the Tower District, and Neighborhood Recycling. The company was started to make a social impact in an impoverished part of Fresno in order to train and employ otherwise “hard to hire” people in the area.
Neighborhood Thrift gives people opportunities to grow and learn through job training and job placement. As a result of working with this type of population, they have had to learn to how to run a successful business while getting the best from their employees as for many of them this is their first job. They use a “no punishment” system in that when an employee is late, they will not be penalized, but rather they will sit together to figure out why they are late and what changes need to be made in order to help them be on time and be a valuable employee.
The key to their success
While they were having some success with the business, they kept running into conflict amidst their employees. One person would say something, which was misinterpreted, then the other employees would be mad at the one who said it and then they wouldn’t want to work together. Then, as AP put it, “I had a bunch of angry employees waiting outside my door.” He realized that they needed help in dealing with all this conflict. He said, “Conflict was the major barrier for most of our employees.” He realized they need to learn how to handle conflict. If they got mad at another employee or even a customer, they needed to have the skills to use to deal with that conflict. He and his business partner at the time reached out for help.
AP and his partner got trained in workplace conflict resolution and it changed the atmosphere at the company as well as how they did business. AP said that once they got help and gave their employees the tools they needed to work through conflict, they saw a huge impact on their company including their income. He attributes much of their amazing success with being trained in how to deal with conflict in healthy ways. AP said, “We would not have made it without healthy conflict resolution skills.”
Workplace Conflict Resolution Opportunities
Nightingale Resolutions offers up to 16 hours of workplace conflict resolution training. We can work with any size of a company and tailor the training for your specific needs. Employees who have taken our training have reported back that they gained a better understanding of conflict and how to handle conflict in healthy ways. They have also reported that they felt that our training is directly applicable to their work as well as other areas in their life. If you are interested in our training, please contact us (559) 797-9361 or click here. We look forward to working with you and your business.
Noelle Nightingale, M.A., is a mediator, facilitator, and conflict resolution trainer in Fresno, CA at Nightingale Resolutions. She has over 13 years of experience in the field of Mediation and Conflict Resolution.