Conflicts are part of every work environment and cannot be completely prevented. When a group of people with different personalities work under stress, there are sure to be a few problems sooner or later. Having an effective team conflict resolution strategy should be a key task for any manager. How can you defuse a situation when anger and regret are in the air? When the parties to the conflict do not behave fully rationally? It is not easy, but there are ways.
Conflicts aren't always bad. Sometimes they can be what helps teams compete and work more efficiently. But they can just as easily explode to enormous proportions and lead to serious problems in business. Therefore, it is best to keep your finger on the pulse and be prepared to step in. Employer branding it requires it.
How do people deal with conflict?
For those who have the appropriate knowledge and skills, resolving conflicts in the company will be easier - they understand how to defuse the situation and reach an agreement that satisfies all parties. Team conflict resolution should begin with understanding the different conflict styles. People usually deal with them in five ways.
- Avoiding or withdrawing from a conflict does not require courage or respect for the other party. When avoiding conflict, it is essentially as if nothing happened.
- Surrendering or accepting the other party's arguments requires a lot of cooperation and a little courage. Someone who does this adapts - by accepting and accepting the other person's point of view or suggestions. Theoretically, a submissive person agrees, for example, to act in a way suggested by someone else. While he may thereby lead to peace and the work will advance, he may still harbor a grudge against the "dominant" side.
- Staying right is a course of action that can be viewed from two perspectives. On the one hand, it may take courage if someone is convinced of the rightness of their beliefs and does not intend to yield. On the other hand, it can also be mindless. In standing in your position, you are essentially competing with the other side. The competitive approach offers short-term benefits, but in the long run, the effects can be detrimental to the business.
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- The compromise is a big step towards resolving the conflict. Courage and caution enter the scene when both sides seek common ground. How does it look in practice? You agree to negotiate the bigger points and let go of the smaller ones - this style speeds up the process as it is team conflict resolution. Some people are not playing clean, however, and may use passive-aggressive tactics to mislead the other side. At the same time, they are unpredictable. Once they seem calm and agreeable, then burst into anger. So let's be careful.
- Collaboration plays an important role in conflict resolution. It requires great courage and prudent behavior. Cooperation with the other party consists in listening to their arguments, discussing the areas of agreement and goals that we want to achieve. It is also important to make sure that all parties understand each other. Collaboration requires creative thinking to solve the problem without making concessions. Co-workers who exhibit this conflict management style are usually admired and respected.
Team conflict resolution - basic rules
The first task for a manager is to get him to accept the conflict. It is a sign of the need for change and an opportunity for development, new understanding and better internal communication. The manager's reaction to the conflict may escalate or reduce the intensity of the problem. To calm all sides in a conflict, take an objective or neutral point of view. Help plan what needs to be done step by step to get out of the deadlock. Listen actively. Consider how the parties to the conflict feel, what the specific problem is and how it affects individuals.
Try to use a neutral language. When people are agitated, they use provocative language such as profanity, verbal abuse, and simplifications that escalate the conflict. As a good manager, separate the person from the problem. View the problem as a specific behavior or set of circumstances, rather than attributing negative feelings to the whole person. This approach makes the problem easier to deal with. Try to resolve conflicts as a team it was about focusing on the future. On the principle: we have a problem, now let's think together how to solve it and avoid it in the future.
Focus on mediation, do not persuade with authority
Ideally, as a boss or supervisor, you should be able to teach colleagues to talk to each other and to resolve conflicts in a team without involving you. How can this be achieved? By explaining to them that their disagreement is detrimental to them and the company as a whole. But that is not always possible. In such situations, it is important to intervene not as a boss but as a mediator. Of course, it is impossible to become a neutral, independent mediator, because being part of a company you have your own opinion on the best result. After all, you are likely to be more effective in serving everyone's interests - yours, theirs, and their organization - if you use your mediation skills instead of your authority.
Why is it better to rely on mediation and not on your authority? Your coworkers are more likely to make and execute decisions if they are involved in making them. If you tell them what to do, they won't learn anything about resolving conflicts on their own. Rather, they will become more dependent on you as someone to always explain their disagreements for them.
Of course, there are times when you will have to postpone your role as a mediator and decide how the conflict will be resolved - for example, if there are company policy issues at stake, there is an immediate risk to your business, or all other team conflict resolution methods have failed. . Such conflicts, however, occur sporadically.
When you need to be a conciliator
What to do when employees expect that you will take a position as a supervisor and thus finish resolving conflicts in the team? For starters, you can tell your coworkers that while you have the authority to dictate a course of action on them, for example, you hope that together you will find a solution that will suit everyone. You can also point out that the conflicting parties or persons should spend their energy reaching an agreement, rather than trying to convince you which of their views should prevail.
An important point is also accepted communication strategy. Is it better to meet each co-worker separately at the beginning or talk to the forum from the very beginning? Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. The goal is to understand both individual positions (what one claims and the other rejects) and their interests (why they make and reject certain claims). Conflict often carries a large dose of emotions. One or both of your coworkers can be seriously angry. Meeting each one of them will give an angry employee an opportunity to discharge himself. Someone else may feel intimidated by the other person, and during a face-to-face meeting, they will open up and reveal information useful in resolving the conflict
Team conflict resolution and disagreement
If your team cannot reach an agreement despite all the efforts of everyone involved, you may need to talk to each colleague individually about the consequences of not reaching a solution. You can ask each of them: what do you think will happen if you don't agree? The answer will probably be: I don't know. The only way to maintain control over the outcome of a conflict is to resolve it yourself. However, if employees are unable to do it, there is nothing else to do - as the boss, you have to impose your opinion, i.e. implement a solution that is in the best interest of the company. Be sure to explain why you made this decision and explain that it is not your desired path of conflict resolution in the team. Perhaps the next time the employees will find an agreement on their own, without your intervention.
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