Office conflicts do not have to ruin productivity, cause someone to quit or get out of hand. Managers and supervisors should develop strategies to deal with any types of disagreements and arguments that occur at the workplace. The main thing to remember is emotions can reach a discordant tipping point that causes some heated debates, and conflict resolution should get to the basic cause of the disagreement. A few simple strategies can go a long way to managing disputes.
1. Initiate Difficult Conversations
Talking to angry, fearful and emotional people can be tricky as you balance the need to give out correct information versus alleviating people's concerns. Unfortunately, this is where a difficult conversation comes into play. Speaking to co-workers is not the hard part, it is the subject matter of the conversation that makes it difficult.
Ask what happened to start the discord in the first place. This is the only way you can get to the bottom of it. Ask each party involved in the disagreement to give his side of the story. Take notes if necessary to refer to later.
Talk about the feelings behind each person's side of the story. Actively listen to that person and summarize what you heard. This way, the person talking to you acknowledges that what you perceive is correct. Once you get everyone's feelings about a situation, you can assess how to alleviate the anger.
Finally, identify what makes the people upset with respect to the discord. One person might feel fear or insecure regarding his work ethic. Another employee may feel threatened by a new person who has a lot of talent. A good manager props everyone up and accentuates the positives to make employees feel useful and valued. Difficult conversations allow mediators to assess the situation as accurately as possible.
2. Listen, Listen, Listen
Emotions may cloud the judgment of employees during a conflict, so mediators, bosses and supervisors must learn to take anger out of the situation as much as possible. Removing anger starts with listening. Attentively hear every side of a story and give a summarized version back to the person. Move on to the next employee and hear his concerns.
Once you listen to every side of the story, you can start to find solutions to the problem by asking questions. Where did any intense emotions start? When did the discord escalate? Why did each person act the way he did? Asking questions gets people talking to you so you can listen even more, plus it shows everyone you care and are engaged in the conversation.
Listening lets everyone try to understand another person's point of view. Once you have a new perspective, you might gain insight as to how to manage the conflict. Sometimes, you need to get those involved to come to the table to move things toward a resolution.
3. Have a Staff Meeting
Literally put everything on the table when you have a staff meeting to address the disagreement. Seeing everyone together lets all parties listen to each side of the story. Each person should have uninterrupted speaking time to lay out his concerns.
Suggest a neutral site to hold the meeting, such as a local restaurant, to discuss things away from the office. This might reduce the stress, tension and pressure of the situation. A neutral site may also get people to open up a bit more as they talk about their feelings.
As a mediator, you must remain impartial to all sides at the meeting as you work out a solution that benefits everyone. Once you propose your ideas, make sure everyone agrees and that the conflict is actually over. You might even take a vote at the meeting to ascertain each person's feelings. The sooner you handle the disagreement, the sooner the business gets back to making money.
Managing conflict starts with policies in human resources. A written policy gives everyone a framework to start resolving disagreements in a specific way. Supervisors can then tap into their own managing style to keep discord from ruining a company's bottom line.
Photo Courtesy of The White House at Flickr.com
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