Our Work
By providing urgently-needed tools, resources and expertise to progressive organisations, Cause and Conflict delivers dramatic improvements in staff wellbeing, organisational cohesion, strategic alignment and financial sustainability, not to mention movement impact.
Both within and among civil society organisations, conflicts typically unfold in three stages. Pre-conflict begins with unspoken tensions and ‘false harmony’, where concerns remain unvoiced and power imbalances or unclear roles create latent strain. In active conflict frustration hardens into blame, entrenched positions, and covert resistance, draining energy and undermining collaboration. If unresolved, this leads to chronic or late-stage conflict, marked by disillusionment, burnout, reputational damage, and weakened impact, where relationships and strategic objectives are significantly compromised.
Cause and Conflict core services include detox workshops, monitoring, training, diagnostics, and ‘conflict conscious’ strategy development.
Conflict resolution
Ready to restore trust, collaboration, and effectiveness for greater impact?
- Mediation and consultancy to support individuals, organisations, and teams experiencing both internal and external conflict to find resolution and, ultimately, to restore harmonious collaboration.
- The Team Detox is a game-changing two-day intervention designed to reset interpersonal dynamics by surfacing unspoken issues and restoring relational strength. Through a non-traditional, human-centred approach, we create conditions for honest dialogues and make breakthroughs, placing both humanity and collective efficacy at the heart of the organisation.
Conflict prevention
Want to forestall the pernicious impacts stemming from unaddressed conflict?
- Training to equip participants to hold difficult conversations, regulate emotions in the face of provocation, address tensions, and reduce polarisation. The result is stronger decision-making, healthier collaboration, and organisations able to navigate disagreement without fragmentation.
- Diagnostics. Examining the interpersonal, cultural, and strategic dimensions of conflicts to help you understand and address the root causes and patterns that undermine effectiveness and alignment. In many cases, the diagnostic process alone helps restore psychological safety, clarify shared principles, and foster a culture where solidarity and impact thrive.
- Conflict-conscious strategy facilitation, building the skills and insight needed to anticipate, navigate, and transform imminent conflict into a source of clarity, alignment, and impact.
Research
Cause and Conflict is also an ongoing research project.
We anonymise and distil findings and insights from our collaborations to further refine the tools and resources we offer. Together with the Civil Society Conflict Survey – a living tool which collects insights and experiences from across the sector – this knowledge creation process will feed into an annual report, ‘From Discord to Unity: Conflict in Civil Society’, elucidating the key drivers of and most effective solutions to conflict in civil society and progressive movements. If you could spare 12 minutes to share your insights and experience, in complete confidence, by completing the survey, we would be enormously grateful.
What people say
Alex Cobham
Executive Director | Tax Justice Network
“Throughout his time with Tax Justice Network, Luke’s striking capacity to understand the various different positions and vantage points within coalitions we are part of has been a huge asset. His empathy, even in tense situations, and his calm professionalism have enabled everyone to better understand each other and to work together more effectively.
“We live in a time when polarisation is on the rise everywhere and, unfortunately, this can often be the case even within the movement for social justice. I have no doubt that in the future too, Luke’s combination of substantive human rights expertise and his remarkable ability to build bridges, even when the divides between different groups can seem insurmountable, will bring a unique and invaluable contribution to the spaces he is in. Ultimately we need to work together and, to achieve that, we need more people with Luke’s empathy and insight in those spaces.”
Subhash Chandra Jose
Global CIO | European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
“You meet tons of people on your profesisonal journey, but there are these few who are exceedingly passionate, irresistably in love with their job and radiating energy all the time. They just stay in your professional journey and leave a mark behind. Deepa is the perfect example of those who leaves that mark. I called Deepa for help while I took a difficult and challenging assignment to turn around a 100+ team from a grappling situation to one of the highest performing teams, driving results and excellent camradarie alike.
“Deepa and her team did a phenomenal job helping me and my core team to build, nurture and excel in what we do. Every session she had with us was enlightening. Her agility to adapt to situations, fine tune to the revelations in the sessions, her quick wit to understand and read people, and her network to bring the right team at right moment was a blessing maximised for us. After 3 months I can say the results are amazing – Deepa thank you for helping us and we sure would recommend you any day, any time.”
Ignacio Saiz
(Former) Executive Director | Center for Economic and Social Rights
“I had the pleasure of working with Luke at the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) for seven years. Whether managing global communications or fostering collaboration with human rights and economic justice partners across the globe, he has a striking ability to bridge communities of practice, spheres of advocacy and fields of expertise.
“Whatever the role or context, he brings an energy and approach that generates harmonious relationships. That was a huge asset at CESR and will be of great benefit to any organisation working with him to enhance workplace wellbeing.”