Client Story: Training a Public Utility Workforce to Navigate Conflict with Confidence
- CAICR
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
At Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), difficult conversations come with the job—whether in the field, on the phone, or face-to-face with customers. CAICR partnered with WSSC in 2024 and 2025 to bring conflict communication training to every corner of the organization, equipping staff with the tools to de-escalate tension and respond with purpose.
Client Snapshot
Organization: WSSC Water
Location: Maryland
Departments Involved: Customer Service, Utility Services, Security, Police
Team Size Trained: 286 technicians and civilians, 31 officers and security personnel
Roles Included: Call center agents, billing specialists, field staff, supervisors, police and security personnel
The Challenge
Across departments, WSSC staff routinely face high-stress interactions—from field crews handling service shutoffs to customer service and call center agents speaking with distressed or frustrated customers to police officers responding to escalating interactions. By working with CAICR, leaders saw an opportunity to offer practical conflict communication skills to staff to support de-escalation, achieve objectives in challenging interactions, improve decision making and job satisfaction, and build confidence in communicating with the public.
The Approach
CAICR, which delivers Insight Policing: Conflict Resolution for Law Enforcement across the country, initially collaborated with WSSC’s police department. Training their police and security guards demonstrated that CAICR’s conflict communication skills, which are grounded in targeted curiosity and the science behind conflict decision making, had a major impact on customer interactions. Officers and guards reported that their ability to control escalating encounters without force and find solutions that gained voluntary compliance greatly improved. When officers were being called to assist other WSSC staff with angry or disruptive customers the idea came up to offer training to all WSSC employees.
CAICR customized their conflict communication training, Engaging Conflict through Curiosity: Insight Conflict Resolution Skills for Professionals, for staff across the organization. Using scenarios developed from interviews with WSSC staff of actual work-based conflict in areas from customer service to field operations, and designing sessions that brought staff from a variety of departments together, the training helped participants recognize conflict in the moment, build emotional awareness to reduce escalation, and apply practical conflict communication skills grounded in targeted curiosity across a multitude of situations relevant to their jobs.
Key components included:
Experiential, active learning designed for adult learners
Customized roleplay scenarios drawn from the experiences of WSSC staff
Mixed-group trainings to foster shared language and interdepartmental learning
Emphasis on targeted curiosity to deescalate tense interactions and facilitate effective decision-making.
Tools for engaging effectively in both in-person and remote conflict, from the field to the phones
The Impact
1. Training built a shared skill set for de-escalation across the organization
Whether in the field, in the office, or on the phones, WSSC employees face emotionally charged situations. Field staff may be met with hostility during shutoffs, while call customer service and center agents often speak with distressed or angry customers. Engaging Conflict through Curiosity gave staff practical ways to stay grounded,reduce escalation, and offer solutions for customers that worked.
“You're not in direct harm’s way, but you're still on this difficult phone call that can escalate." says John Curry, WSSC Customer Service Director. "Just being able to reinforce remaining calm, consider the customer's feelings, and try to engage them—that’s helped people keep calls from escalating and stay on track.”
2. Learning together helped build shared language and stronger teams
Bringing together participants from different departments fosters empathy and creates a shared approach to communication. Staff say it is valuable to hear how colleagues in security, utility services, and other departments experience conflict—and how the training applies across roles and departments.
“I think it helped with having different perspectives from different departments that maybe we wouldn't have encountered typically,” says Curry. “I had a person from our security department and a person from our utility services department… just hearing how they might apply this, and things that they encounter, was beneficial.”
“The delivery in an in-person setting is unmatched,” says Tenelle Chambers, HR Specialist at WSSC. “I could have taken it online, but the hands-on scenarios—talking with colleagues, breaking into groups, moving around the room—let you really see people express emotion and connect. You’re engaging with people from all different roles you wouldn’t normally work with, and it helps you realize we’re all kind of in the same boat.”
3. Staff felt more confident and prepared in their roles
Participants say the training helps them feel more prepared to handle difficult interactions. By understanding their own instinctive reactions and learning strategies to manage them, staff felt more confident and supported in their roles.
“These are tools you can use right away ” says Chambers. “At our agency, it’s going to benefit everybody whether it's management, the employees dealing with customers, or the employees dealing with others.”
“It definitely makes [my team] feel more equipped," says Curry. "It just opens their eyes to how the situations can be handled, how they have their sort of hardwired responses that they might go to and and how they can overcome some of that to to handle the situation better."
4. More intentional responses led to better service and stronger community trust
With the ability to more intentionally respond to conflict on the job, staff say they are better able to stay calm and meet the needs of customers in tense or emotional moments. The training helped staff develop the communication skills they need to prevent escalation, preserve professionalism, build trust with customers, and meet their objectives. Post-training evaluations included the following comments from participants:
“Before this, I was unsure how to de-escalate tense situations, but I feel more confident resolving them now.”
“We can help avoid ourselves looking in a bad light because of how we've responded… it's an incredibly beneficial tool.”
“By us being able to calm the situation and deliver the service that the person is really trying to get, it's a huge benefit to them.”
Evaluation Results
In addition to these comments, post-training evaluations showed near-unanimous agreement on the effectiveness of the training.
What’s Next
WSSC continues to expand participation in Engaging Conflict through Curiosity and support employees as they build conflict communication skills to prevent escalation when interactions get tense, improve service quality, satisfaction and collaboration on the job.
Bring Curiosity to Conflict
CAICR helps public-serving organizations strengthen conflict communication at every level—from the field to the front desk. Our experiential trainings are grounded in the Insight Approach to Conflict Analysis and Resolution, equipping professionals with an understanding of what drives conflict and the ability to respond with clarity, curiosity, and confidence.
We offer half-day, full-day, and two-day sessions designed for real-world application—helping teams navigate difficult interactions and achieve their goals.