Verbal De-Escalation Skills

In our positions of authority we need to perform our duties in a professional manner every time when dealing with emotionally charged clients. We cannot rely on what we did good last year or last month. Remember we are acting as an “ambassador” for our organizations. Even for the most tenure staff we still cannot afford to treat every verbal de-escalation attempt with complete professionalism. It only takes one bad effort and/or complaint to land us in hot water. Of course past service and record will be taken into consideration, but that may not be enough. You can be the most loyal and trusted employee but saying the wrong thing because you are angry/upset can cost you either your good reputation or maybe even your job. When I train instructors, I make sure they know this rule. A “humble” instructor is a good instructor. To be good at verbal de-escalation you need to be “humble”; a little humility can go a long way to you achieving your ultimate goal of “chosen compliance”. Make sure you are using “simple” language when communicating with a client that is emotionally
These persons in positions of authority must be diligent and reasonable in their response in order to provide a safe environment for everyone involved. Remember providing a safe environment is a basic common necessity in order to achieve success for the organization. We need to remain calm, be flexible, choose our words carefully and offer the client options when available, in order to be successful in our de-escalation efforts. When verbally de-escalating someone you have to demonstrate to the person that they “matter”, every contact, every time, and every day. My hope is that you take the basic principles of this book and blend them with your own communication style for your future verbal de-escalation