Breaking the Triangle
Why Does the Same Conflict Keep Happening?
You talked about it, clarified expectations, someone apologized, and everyone agreed to move forward.
Then a slightly different incident happens, and everyone goes right back where they started.
Breaking the Triangle is a two-hour workshop designed to help people understand why conflict keeps repeating and break the cycle.
Recurring Conflict Is More Than a Series of Incidents
When workplace conflict repeats, people often focus on the latest event.
Who said what? Who started it? Who needs to apologize? Who needs to change?
Breaking the Triangle takes a different approach.
Instead of examining one incident in isolation, participants look at the interaction surrounding it.
What did one person do? How did the other person respond? What happened next?
The Karpman Drama Triangle is a visual framework for understanding recurring interpersonal conflict through three roles: Victim, Rescuer, and Persecutor.
This Isn’t About Labeling People
The important part isn’t simply identifying the roles. It’s recognizing how people move between them and how one person’s behavior influences what the other person does next.
The Triangle is most useful as a mirror because the goal isn’t to walk away from the workshop thinking:
“Now I know which role my coworker is.”
The better question is:
“Where do I enter this pattern, and what happens immediately afterward?”
That question gives you something you can actually influence.
What Participants Learn
Participants learn how to:
Recognize Victim, Rescuer, and Persecutor behaviors.
Map the sequence of a recurring conflict.
Notice how people shift roles during an interaction.
Recognize where they personally enter the pattern.
Identify moments where a different response could change what happens next.
Stop Solving Incidents. Start Seeing the Pattern.
Once you can see a conflict as a sequence rather than a collection of isolated events, you have more opportunities to change it.
Format: 2 hours