Stop losing your talent to hidden resentments.
Know the silent productivity killer that’s costing your business.
It’s not the big blowup. It’s the thousand small moments nobody knew how to handle.
The people who leave rarely tell you why. They lose motivation first — quietly, slowly — and by the time they hand in their notice, the decision is already set in stone.
You’re working with people who have different backgrounds, different lived experiences, different ways of seeing the world. That’s a strength — if you have the skills to work with it. Without them, miscommunication becomes your most expensive problem.
See pricing & get in touchWho this is for
For the woman navigating it
- You’re good at your job and tired of proving it
- You’ve learned to work around the friction instead of through it
- You want tools that make the hard conversations less costly
- You’re done shrinking to fit — and ready to lead differently
For the business or team leader
- You’re building or managing a diverse team and want it to actually work
- You’ve felt the cost of conflict that never gets resolved cleanly
- You want a culture where people speak up rather than walk out
- You’re ready to invest in the skill, not just the symptom
This isn’t for everyone. It’s not for you if:
- You’re looking for a one-day fix to tick a compliance box
- You want the tools but aren’t willing to look at your own role in team dynamics
- You need a generic training package delivered the same way to every organisation
What it’s actually costing you
Most conflict in high-pressure teams doesn’t show up as one big incident. It shows up as a slow leak — the thing that never got said, the tension nobody named, the person who stopped contributing and then quietly left.
In industries like construction, engineering and the trades, the default response to that tension is to push through it. And that works — until it doesn’t.
Interpersonal conflict with coworkers is one of the most significant workplace stressors — significant enough that people can’t mentally recover from it even on weekends. It doesn’t stay contained to work hours. It bleeds into performance, into culture, and eventually into your bottom line.
Doing nothing isn’t neutral. Research shows that teams without conflict-resolution skills don’t just stay stuck — they get worse over time. The gap between teams who’ve built this skill and teams who haven’t keeps widening.
This isn’t soft. This is the thing that holds teams together.
The “toughen up” approach to conflict has a track record. We know what it produces: people who go quiet instead of speaking up, problems that fester instead of getting solved, and good people who leave for somewhere they feel heard.
Understanding what’s driving someone’s behaviour — including your own — isn’t weakness. It’s the most efficient way to resolve a problem before it becomes a crisis.
The skill of getting underneath a conflict — to what someone actually needs — is what separates leaders who burn through people from leaders who build something that lasts.
Create the culture that draws talent to you.
People don’t just leave bad workplaces. They leave places where they stopped feeling heard — and they tell others. The reverse is also true: a team that knows how to navigate difference, name tension early, and resolve conflict without casualties becomes somewhere people actively want to work.
In industries struggling to attract and retain diverse talent, that’s not a soft outcome. It’s a competitive advantage.
NVC for All — communication training that actually changes behaviour
Nonviolent Communication is a framework developed by Marshall Rosenberg, used in organisations across 60+ countries — healthcare, education, corporate settings, and increasingly in high-friction, high-stakes industries where the cost of unresolved conflict is real and measurable.
NVC gives your team a structure: notice what’s actually happening, name what it brings up, connect it to what you need, make a clear ask. It interrupts the reflex to blame — which usually means it interrupts the reflex to go quiet, go off, or walk out the door.
NVC for All goes further. Developed through the work of Roxy Manning, it brings a critical awareness of power dynamics into the framework — making visible the patterns that determine whose voice gets heard and whose doesn’t. For teams working across difference, that’s not a nice-to-have. It’s the whole point.
This isn’t about making everyone agree. It’s about giving people — including the woman in the room who’s been navigating this longer than anyone acknowledges — a shared language for the things that usually go unsaid.
What you walk away with
- A way to understand what’s driving conflict — in yourself and in others — before it escalates
- The skill to have hard conversations without destroying the relationship or the working dynamic
- Tools to hear what someone isn’t saying — because what people say when they’re defensive is rarely the actual problem
- Awareness of how power and privilege shape communication — and how to work with that rather than around it
- A shared language for your team to name problems early, before they become expensive
- Real practice, not just theory — each session is experiential, with exercises and tools to use between sessions
- Optional empathy buddy pairing for deeper work between sessions
Format: 8 sessions × 2 hours, fortnightly on Sunday afternoons. Online via Zoom anywhere in Australia, or in-person in Melbourne for groups.
What the research shows
For the skeptics — and there should be skeptics — here’s what the evidence actually says:
- A randomised controlled trial (2024) found an 8-hour NVC training produced statistically significant improvements in stress reduction, resilience, empathy and interpersonal relationships — compared to a control group who received no training
- Results come fast: significant gains in self-esteem, empathic ability and communication competency were measured after just six 2-hour sessions
- It sticks: medical professionals who completed NVC training still showed improved empathy three months later — not a short-term training high
- Not training is a choice too: in a staff evaluation, untrained employees got worse at conflict resolution over the same period trained employees improved — and 95% of those who completed training said it helped them reach better outcomes
Most peer-reviewed research is concentrated in healthcare and education settings. The underlying mechanism — empathy reduces escalation — is domain-general, which is why organisations across industries have begun piloting this for teams and leadership development.
Who you’re learning with
Carolyn Larue spent twelve years as a licensed electrician in construction and building automation — often the only woman in the room. She knows what it costs to navigate that, and she knows what changes when you have the right tools.
She’s been practising and studying Nonviolent Communication for ten years, embedded in an NVC speaking community throughout that time. She’s completed multiple NVC courses and trained directly with Roxy Manning in the NVC for All train-the-trainer program — the same integrated approach this course delivers.
These days she coaches women in construction, engineering and the trades from Melbourne, and works with leaders and teams who want to build something better than the default.
She’s not teaching this from a textbook. She’s teaching it from the inside.
Work with me
Fortnightly, Sunday afternoons
Journal prompts, worksheets & practice tools
Optional empathy buddy pairing
Get TICKETS
Reduced rate for signing up early
Your feedback shapes future programs
In-person available in Melbourne
Tailored delivery for your team context
Get in touch for a conversation Get in touch
Not sure if this is right for your team? Reach out — happy to have a no-pressure conversation before you commit to anything.
Frequently asked questions
It’s a fair question — and the honest answer is that the “toughen up” approach has a track record too. We know what it produces: people who go quiet instead of raising problems, conflict that festers until someone leaves, and turnover that costs more than anyone wants to admit. Understanding what’s actually driving someone’s behaviour isn’t soft. It’s the most efficient way to resolve a problem before it gets expensive. The research backs that up — this produces measurable behaviour change, not just a better mood at the end of a day.
Most conflict resolution training teaches technique — scripts and models for what to say. NVC for All goes deeper. It works at the level of what’s actually driving the conflict: unmet needs, power dynamics, and the patterns that determine whose voice gets heard. The result isn’t just better conversations — it’s a team that can catch friction early, before it becomes a people problem or a cost problem.
Traditional NVC is a powerful framework. NVC for All, developed through Roxy Manning’s work, builds on it with a critical awareness of power, privilege and social dynamics — making visible the patterns that determine whose voice gets heard and whose doesn’t. For teams working across difference, that’s not optional. It’s what makes the framework actually work in the real world rather than just in theory.
No. This is a foundations course — designed for people with no prior NVC experience. If you’ve done some NVC before, you’ll find the NVC for All framework adds meaningful depth to what you already know.
The research is clear that short interventions produce real change — significant gains in empathy and communication competency have been measured after just six 2-hour sessions. At two hours a fortnight, the time commitment is low relative to what the evidence shows it delivers. For organisations that need something more compressed, get in touch and we can talk about what’s possible.
A fair question. Research on NVC training found participants still showed improved empathy three months after completing the program. The fortnightly format is also designed for durability — practice between sessions, empathy buddy pairing, and worksheets mean the learning gets applied in real situations throughout the course, not just inside the room.
Yes. The program is well suited to construction, engineering, trades and other high-friction industries — and the facilitator has twelve years of on-site experience, so the industry context isn’t academic. Group and in-person delivery for Melbourne-based teams is available. Get in touch to discuss what works for your team.
Group pricing is based on team size and delivery format — online via Zoom, or in-person in Melbourne. Get in touch and I’ll put together something specific to your situation. No generic quote; an actual conversation about what you need.
It’s where this program is most effective. NVC for All was specifically developed to work across difference — different backgrounds, lived experiences, cultural contexts, and positions in a power structure. Most communication training treats everyone as a blank slate. This one doesn’t.