Facilitator
Zed Xaba – Conflict Coach and Facilitator
Ms NtombiZandile (Zed) Xaba is a highly experienced trainer, facilitator and independent consultant with over 35 years’ experience. Zed is a WomenLift Health facilitator, as well as an independent consultant in the arears of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Conflict Transformation and Personal Leadership. Learn more
Akhona Tshangela – Director, Southern Africa
Ms. Akhona Tshangela is a public health professional with over 15 years of experience, including as a pioneer at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she co-chaired the science, regulations, and standards technical working group during the COVID-19 response. She holds a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Pretoria and a Bachelor’s in Human Genetics from the University of Cape Town. As the Southern Africa Director for WomenLift Health, Akhona is dedicated to promoting inclusivity and the vital role of female leadership in public health decision-making. Learn more
Conflict Dynamics: Building Better Relationships
We envision a world where diverse, accomplished leaders collectively transform health outcomes. To realize that vision, we seek to expand the power and influence of talented mid-career women in health and engage with senior institutional and societal leaders to catalyze systemic change for gender equality in health leadership. We work in East Africa, India, Nigeria, North America, and Southern Africa and continue to explore outreach to other regions.
PowerUp
The Southern Africa PowerUp workshop is free and open to mid-career women in public health globally, including all regions where we operate.
The workshops are hosted virtually, focus on developing leadership skills, and fostering meaningful connections between women leaders in health within a regional context. The topics rotate with each workshop. We encourage women leaders in public health in each region to join us, and use these workshops as an opportunity to learn, engage with other women leaders, and build community.
Conflict Dynamics: Building Better Relationships
21 May 2025 @ 17:30-19:30pm CAT
WomenLift Health is hosting an interactive virtual workshop to provide mid-career women working in public health in Southern Africa with the information and tools to move towards a more productive and sustainable way of managing the boundaries between their work and personal lives.
Conflict is inevitable, unavoidable, complex, and can be mentally, emotionally and physically draining, and difficult to navigate. Conflict can also negatively impact personal progress and goals, team dynamics, and workplace culture. Research shows that women tend to avoid disagreement, corresponding to socially constructed norms of femininity.
Conflict can also serve a purpose. It can generate new solutions, build better relationships, and increase job satisfaction. It is key to innovation and can be a critical component of risk mitigation. Conflict follows a predictable pathway and will diverge to become either constructive or destructive. The question for this workshop is: How do we navigate the path of conflict so that it is constructive, and we can walk away feeling positive, relaxed, and even motivated?
In this session, for beginners and seasoned practitioners alike, we will explore the Conflict Dynamics Model by unpacking the behaviours and actions that influence interpersonal conflict. Attendees will reflect on and map out a recent work disagreement by focusing on the active, passive, constructive and destructive response pathways. We will understand how to identify our own “hot buttons” and contributions to either escalating or de-escalating conflict.
PowerUp Objectives:
This session will unpack the behaviours and actions that influence interpersonal conflict at the workplace. You will:
- Examine how your approach to conflict affects your health, and the health of your relationships at work and at home
- Explore how you can shift to a more positive, constructive response in conflict situations
Registration Details
Please note that to enroll in the session, you should complete all sections of the registration form.
You are eligible for the workshop if you Identify as a woman *
This virtual workshop will be conducted in the English language and is free of cost.
WomenLift Health PowerUp Workshops are interactive. By signing up, you agree to participate in the full session, which includes plenary discussions and breakout group activities.
Enrollment will be on a first-come-first-served basis, as spots are limited.
*Although women at all career stages are welcome to register, we believe participants who are at the mid-career stage will benefit most, as the content of the workshop has been designed with mid-career women professionals in mind (10–25 years of experience working in the public health sector). If the number of registrants exceeds our capacity, women who are within the preferred experience range will be given priority.
Registrants should await an email confirming their spot in the workshop. Please check your spam folders if you did not receive an email.
Facilitator
Zed Xaba – Conflict Coach and Facilitator
Ms NtombiZandile (Zed) Xaba is a highly experienced trainer, facilitator and independent consultant with over 35 years’ experience. Zed is a WomenLift Health facilitator, as well as an independent consultant in the arears of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Conflict Transformation and Personal Leadership. Learn more
Akhona Tshangela – Director, Southern Africa
Ms. Akhona Tshangela is a public health professional with over 15 years of experience, including as a pioneer at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she co-chaired the science, regulations, and standards technical working group during the COVID-19 response. She holds a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Pretoria and a Bachelor’s in Human Genetics from the University of Cape Town. As the Southern Africa Director for WomenLift Health, Akhona is dedicated to promoting inclusivity and the vital role of female leadership in public health decision-making. Learn more
We envision a world where diverse, accomplished leaders collectively transform health outcomes. To realize that vision, we seek to expand the power and influence of talented mid-career women in health and engage with senior institutional and societal leaders to catalyze systemic change for gender equality in health leadership. We work in East Africa, India, Nigeria, North America, and Southern Africa and continue to explore outreach to other regions.
PowerUp
The Southern Africa PowerUp workshop is free and open to mid-career women in public health globally, including all regions where we operate.
The workshops are hosted virtually, focus on developing leadership skills, and fostering meaningful connections between women leaders in health within a regional context. The topics rotate with each workshop. We encourage women leaders in public health in each region to join us, and use these workshops as an opportunity to learn, engage with other women leaders, and build community.
Conflict Dynamics: Building Better Relationships
21 May 2025 @ 17:30-19:30pm CAT
WomenLift Health is hosting an interactive virtual workshop to provide mid-career women working in public health in Southern Africa with the information and tools to move towards a more productive and sustainable way of managing the boundaries between their work and personal lives.
Conflict is inevitable, unavoidable, complex, and can be mentally, emotionally and physically draining, and difficult to navigate. Conflict can also negatively impact personal progress and goals, team dynamics, and workplace culture. Research shows that women tend to avoid disagreement, corresponding to socially constructed norms of femininity.
Conflict can also serve a purpose. It can generate new solutions, build better relationships, and increase job satisfaction. It is key to innovation and can be a critical component of risk mitigation. Conflict follows a predictable pathway and will diverge to become either constructive or destructive. The question for this workshop is: How do we navigate the path of conflict so that it is constructive, and we can walk away feeling positive, relaxed, and even motivated?
In this session, for beginners and seasoned practitioners alike, we will explore the Conflict Dynamics Model by unpacking the behaviours and actions that influence interpersonal conflict. Attendees will reflect on and map out a recent work disagreement by focusing on the active, passive, constructive and destructive response pathways. We will understand how to identify our own “hot buttons” and contributions to either escalating or de-escalating conflict.
PowerUp Objectives:
This session will unpack the behaviours and actions that influence interpersonal conflict at the workplace. You will:
- Examine how your approach to conflict affects your health, and the health of your relationships at work and at home
- Explore how you can shift to a more positive, constructive response in conflict situations
Registration Details
Please note that to enroll in the session, you should complete all sections of the registration form.
You are eligible for the workshop if you Identify as a woman *
This virtual workshop will be conducted in the English language and is free of cost.
WomenLift Health PowerUp Workshops are interactive. By signing up, you agree to participate in the full session, which includes plenary discussions and breakout group activities.
Enrollment will be on a first-come-first-served basis, as spots are limited.
*Although women at all career stages are welcome to register, we believe participants who are at the mid-career stage will benefit most, as the content of the workshop has been designed with mid-career women professionals in mind (10–25 years of experience working in the public health sector). If the number of registrants exceeds our capacity, women who are within the preferred experience range will be given priority.
Registrants should await an email confirming their spot in the workshop. Please check your spam folders if you did not receive an email.
