Q&A with Wes Ehnert on Communication and Conflict Management

With over two decades of experience in advertising sales and sales leadership, Wes Ehnert has built a career rooted in guiding and empowering others. His leadership journey naturally evolved into a passion for coaching—helping professionals at all levels gain clarity, confidence, and control over their careers and personal growth.

Wes holds a professional coaching certification from Northwestern University, where he completed the rigorous Organizational & Leadership Coaching Certificate program. His expertise is grounded in cognitive science, psychology, and organizational behavior, enabling him to help clients navigate career transitions, improve leadership skills, and deepen self-awareness.

Specializing in executive, leadership, and career coaching, Wes creates a safe, trusting environment where clients can uncover hidden beliefs and behaviors that may be limiting their growth. His coaching philosophy bridges the gap between traditional coaching and deeper cognitive exploration, making him an ideal guide for professionals seeking true breakthrough moments.

In this Q&A, we spoke with Wes about the importance of effective communication, trust building, and conflict management in team dynamics, with a focus on HR roles and workforce transitions. You can also follow and connect with Wes on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesehnert/.

What drives me most in this field is the ability to make a profound impact on people’s lives. Every coaching session represents an opportunity to help clients navigate change in their careers, enhance their relationships, and purposefully shape their lives. The sense of accomplishment that comes with witnessing clients achieve breakthroughs and realize their potential is unparalleled. I specialize in creating environments that foster psychological safety and trust to help clients uncover hidden beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors, empowering them with more choices and possibilities for their professional and personal lives.

My career path has been shaped by a blend of traditional roles and entrepreneurial spirit. Choosing self-employment was driven by a desire for independence and creativity, inspired by the success stories of friends and mentors. My motivation to excel in this field comes from the meaningful impact I can create and the endless possibilities for growth and innovation. As I continue on this journey, my commitment remains to help clients transform their careers and lives, empowering them to live more intentionally, authentically, and purposefully.

My current role is to help individuals and teams build clear pathways to success using organizational learning and coaching principles. At its core, my coaching is about building awareness. By developing self-awareness, people can better navigate their paths—whether that’s someone in career transition identifying what they want, what’s holding them back, and what resources they can tap into, or a team struggling with communication and collaboration.

Many teams don’t function as well as they could because they aren’t fully aware of their own obstacles. My role is to uncover those challenges and clear the path forward.

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The biggest challenge is communication. Many people think of communication simply as talking or relaying information, but true communication goes deeper. Teams often struggle with being direct, addressing conflict openly, and recognizing how emotions and internal thought processes influence their interactions.

My coaching approach incorporates cognitive behavioral principles, which help diagnose these hidden issues. If we understand our thought patterns and narratives, we can communicate more effectively, get unstuck, and find better alternatives. Most teams think they are working on communication, but unless they’re addressing these deeper barriers, they’re not truly fixing the problem.

Most of my coaching career has been focused on sales teams, as I come from a background in sales and advertising. Regardless of the industry—whether sales, HR, or operations—the challenges remain the same. Teams depend on relationships and if communication isn’t effective, conflicts arise.

It’s not about the type of team; it’s about how people interact. The same principles apply whether it’s a group of sales executives, HR professionals, or even auto mechanics. The issue is usually indirect communication—people avoiding direct conversations, acting out frustrations, or making assumptions instead of addressing concerns openly.

Sure. Let’s take a conflict between two team members. Say they both understand their goals and want to work well together, but one tells the other, “I’d like us to not bring up that topic in meetings because it causes conflict.” Now, the other person may immediately get defensive—feeling like they were told what to do or their input wasn’t valued.

The real issue here isn’t just what was said; it’s how it was said and whether there was a foundation of trust for that conversation. Many teams lack the groundwork for open, constructive discussions, and that’s where communication breaks down.

Organizations need a structured approach to communication and conflict resolution, one that acknowledges biases and fosters psychological safety. Understanding psychology and human behavior is crucial in organizational development. Without self-awareness, people don’t realize how their biases or internal narratives impact their interactions. Companies that invest in structured communication training and coaching see better collaboration and team dynamics.

Effective communication is built on trust and open dialogue. When one team member makes a request of another, the emotional context of the conversation plays a major role in how it is received. If there isn’t an established foundation of trust, conversations can quickly turn into conflicts rather than productive discussions. Teams need to proactively create an environment where individuals feel comfortable addressing concerns directly and openly.

It starts with a shared commitment. The team must agree to work on communication together, openly discuss what is and isn’t working, and establish trust. A facilitator can help diagnose common points of conflict and then introduce structured communication frameworks.

For example, teams can develop a shared language, such as using “critical assessment,” instead of framing feedback as a personal attack. This ensures that discussions are productive and solutions-focused.

While the fundamentals of trust and open communication apply, there is an added layer of complexity because managers have authority. Employees may hesitate to be fully honest due to concerns about power dynamics, performance reviews, or job security. This makes it crucial for managers to be trained on how authority impacts trust and communication.

However, many companies promote employees into management without equipping them with the necessary skills. Managing people is a significant responsibility, but organizations often overlook the need for structured training. Without proper training, managers may unknowingly create environments where trust and communication suffer.

Conflict resolution requires a structured approach that separates emotions from facts. People naturally have emotional responses—feeling blamed, attacked, or defensive—but training in conflict resolution can help individuals recognize when emotions are clouding judgment.

Best practices for this include:

• Acknowledging emotions without letting them dominate the conversation.
• Recognizing when to take a break and return when emotions have settled.
• Using clear communication tools to separate personal feelings from objective statements.
• Developing conflict resolution protocols so that employees feel supported rather than left to resolve conflicts alone.

The biggest challenge is balancing their dual role; HR serves both as an advocate for employees and a representative of the company. This creates an inherent conflict, as employees often feel that HR prioritizes the company’s interests. If HR doesn’t establish trust with employees, company policies and cultural initiatives will lose credibility.

In workforce reductions, things can turn cold fast. Employees who once felt valued may suddenly feel like strangers. It’s similar to a divorce—what was once a supportive environment becomes transactional. This problem isn’t just about layoffs; it starts long before in how trust is—or isn’t—built into the company culture.

Listen first. HR must gather information from employees, managers, and corporate leadership to fully understand concerns, conflicts, and inconsistencies. Then, they need to reflect that information back to all stakeholders honestly. If red flags or contradictions arise, they must address them openly before moving to solutions.

HR is just a subset of organizational learning and development (L&D). A broader understanding of organizational development, psychology, and people operations can help HR professionals create more people-centered policies and processes.

AI has the potential to analyze conversations and raise questions about unspoken narratives—what each party is telling themselves in their own head. By diagnosing potential sources of conflict, AI could help employees and managers recognize issues like trust concerns or emotional triggers. This could make difficult conversations more transparent and productive.

While AI can’t replace human intuition, it can help uncover patterns in how teams interact or where misunderstandings arise. The challenge will be ensuring that AI tools are used ethically and effectively, supplementing human decision making rather than replacing it.

The key is awareness—of ourselves, our teams, and our communication patterns. The more we understand the barriers in our way, the more control we have in shaping our personal and professional lives. Whether in career transitions, leadership development, or team collaboration, self-awareness and intentional communication are the foundation for success.

We loved getting to work with him, and you would too. Make sure to reach out to him with the contact information listed above.

If you’re interested in learning more about our Careerminds leadership coaching and talent development services, and how we can help your teams navigate these challenges to elevate their performance, click below to speak with our experts and see if Careerminds is the right partner for your organization.

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Rebecca Ahn

Rebecca Ahn is a prolific writer, editor, entrepreneur, and business consultant with over a decade of experience launching, managing, and coaching leaders at companies of all sizes—from solopreneurs to startups to 10,000+ employee organizations. Throughout her lengthy and diverse career, she has developed a versatile and varied expertise in all aspects of business and HR operations, leadership development, and content strategy and production across a diverse range of industries including business, HR, tech, fin-tech, hospitality, healthcare, travel, self defense, and entertainment. Rebecca is a passionate people advocate who believes in building strong people, teams, and organizations with transparent culture, content, and communication to facilitate meaningful impact at every level of the workforce and stage of the employee lifecycle. In every endeavor throughout her unconventional career as a professional chameleon and business nerd, her mission has always been to empower and educate others to be more communicative, courageous, and compelling. To not only survive, but thrive, and help those around them to do the same.