People are complicated, and no two of your employees are exactly alike. When you have that many different perspectives in your workplace, conflict is bound to happen. While conflict can sometimes lead to healthy competition and innovation, left unchecked or undirected, it can have damaging effects on the organization. As a leader, the responsibility to resolve these issues often falls on you. We’ll provide some practical guidance for how to do so effectively.
The Importance of Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution is the art of diffusing tension between parties to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. Put simply, it’s helping your employees get along. Leaders need to know how to handle conflict in the workplace. One study found that 85% of employees deal with conflict in their working lives, and it costs U.S. companies an estimated $359 billion annually (csp.edu).
Even though your plate is full, it’s important to address problems quickly and fairly. If you don’t, a situation could escalate and result in lost productivity, poor team morale, a lack of faith in your leadership abilities, and more.
How Common is Workplace Conflict?
In a word, very. CPP found that 85% of both individual contributors and leaders agreed they experienced some amount of inevitable conflict at work. In addition, 29% of all employees said that they experienced almost constant conflict. Tellingly, 12% said they also saw conflict frequently among leaders (cppglobal.com).
Is conflict always negative? No.
By any definition, negative examples of conflict in the workplace include:
- A single disagreement or argument
- Chronic difficult relationships
- Clashes of personality
- Verbal abuse
- Harassment
- Bullying
- Unethical or unfair behavior that disrupts the work of an individual, team, or company
But notice that healthy, positive conflict can include:
- Competition that motivates people to work harder toward goals
- Struggling to choose between different strategies
- Figuring out which team members should take which tasks
- Pitting opinions against each other to brainstorm new approaches
When You Should Step In
While you’re ultimately responsible for the harmony and productivity within your team, you don’t have to spring to action as soon as your employees disagree. Instead, encourage workers to find common ground on their own. That way, you can focus on more urgent matters, and your team members can hone their conflict resolution skills.
It may be helpful to know that “it’s estimated that as many as 90 percent of all conflicts result from misunderstandings (coparenter.com).” That goes for work and personal relationships. By communicating new policies about conflict and modeling good behavior, prohibiting all forms of harassments and disrespect, and bad treatment based on differences, you can be ahead of the curve.
However, if your staff can’t get past their differences and work together civilly, then you’ll need to play the role of mediator. You should also get involved immediately if you become aware of harassment, theft, violence, substance abuse, or illegal activity. In these instances, you must act quickly to prevent harm to employees and the company.
Pro Tip: Have, adhere to, and enforce a company-wide conflict resolution policy. That way, it’s clear what needs to happen in a given situation.
The Leader as a Mediator
When you need to intervene in an employee conflict, follow these best practices:
- Talk to each person individually and then with both parties together.
- Ask probing questions to understand the core issue and the events that have taken place.
- Focus on the facts only, don’t take sides, and don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment.
- Help both parties see each other’s perspectives.
- Identify a compromise that’s a win-win.
- Reiterate the expectation that employees must work together respectfully and that continued disruptive arguments won’t be tolerated.
Once team members have reached a consensus, follow up periodically to see if the solution is working and if the employees are getting along.
Conflict Prevention
Wouldn’t it be nice if you never had to deal with another employee conflict? Unfortunately, that’s not a realistic goal. However, you can reduce the number of incidents that come your way with some prevention tips:
- Establish what is considered acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Hold team members accountable for infractions.
- Arrange sensitivity training for your employees so they can understand and appreciate different perspectives.
- Celebrate different backgrounds and ideas as a team strength.
- Teach employees conflict resolution skills so they can work things out independently.
How Omnia Can Help
When you have a strong sense of self-awareness and know your team members well, preventing and resolving conflict becomes much easier. You’ll know exactly how to approach specific circumstances and people. Acquiring this deep knowledge can take years of observation and interactions.
But there is a faster way – taking and administering a behavioral assessment. Omnia’s well-regarded assessment has a track record of success. It’s fun and easy to take, and when you get the results, you’ll instantly know more about yourself and your employees. With this insight, you’ll be well on your way to a more pleasant work environment.
Final Thoughts
Unchecked conflict can wreak havoc on team morale and company achievement, so you need to act fast when the situation calls for it. By exercising good judgment and flexing your mediator muscles, you can restore harmony and productivity in no time. If you’d like to learn more about how behavioral assessments can help you keep the peace, contact us today!
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