Conflicts are inevitable, even in the most engaged of workplaces. Regardless of the source of the conflict, if they are left unresolved, conflicts can quickly impact employee morale and productivity. Below are a few conflict management examples and the basic conflict management skills you should practice to resolve them. It’s important to practice the following skills when resolving team conflict in the workplace:
- Create a healthy culture. Treat everyone in your team fairly and equally, provide them with praise and recognition, and be open and honest at all times.
- Learn to spot the early signs of conflict. Read team members’ body language (e.g. crossed arms), facial expressions and tone of voice.
- Deal with conflict promptly. Take action early to help your people resolve the situation before it escalates.
- Develop rules for handling conflict. Ensure team members listen to one another, respect each other’s points of view and refrain from interrupting each other.
- Never take sides. Your role is to help the team members address the issues causing the conflict and to reach a resolution that works well for them.
Three of the most common types of workplace conflicts that you’ll
experience are with the boss, your co-workers, or the team. Here we
discuss each type and give you some helpful examples.
1. Conflict with the boss
The situation of an employee who has constant clashes with their boss
typically comes about when their boss shows little faith in their skills and
ability and doesn’t have confidence that the employee can get the job done
without micromanagement.
The individual may have been overlooked for a promotion, or their boss may have
different ideas about what the employee’s role should be and very different
perceptions about priorities and what needs to be done.
2. Conflict with a colleague
In today’s working world, collaboration is key. But the office can be a
stressful, competitive place that doesn’t always bring out everyone’s best
side.
Tension can flare up among co-workers for any number of reasons. From
perceptions of unfair workloads, unjust recognition, favouritism, to different
views on how a task should be completed.
However, some of the most problematic conflicts with colleagues come about
because of egos, personal values and office politics.
3. Conflict with direct reports or team members
Conflict with direct reports can erupt if a team member appears to be slacking
off and not pulling their weight, while their poor performance goes
unchecked.
At the same time, workplace change like a new boss or a peer being given more
responsibility can also spark conflict as workers try to adapt to new
situations. Other factors include an individual’s self-esteem, their personal
goals, values and needs.
How to resolve team conflict
There are several methods of addressing conflict within a team but by having a
thorough understanding of which types of team conflict your workplace is
dealing with the better you can resolve them.
How to resolve conflict with a boss
If there is conflict between a boss and an employee, it’s important to
understand the boss’s goals and motivations, while letting the employee express
their concerns, while exploring ways for them to better work together.
For example, the boss may have no idea that the employee was looking for more
responsibility, and their “micromanaging” of them was just their way of making
sure the employee didn’t get overwhelmed with the tasks at hand.
Getting insight into a boss’s reasoning and outlook may spark ideas about new
techniques for handling the situation.
How to go about resolving conflict with a colleague
With an honest and open approach, you can resolve most types of co-worker
conflicts.
When it comes to differing views on how a task should be accomplished, it’s
important to recognise all ideas, and find common ground. Focus on what aspects
both parties agree on and figure out if there is one way that appeals to both
of them. If not, approach someone higher up to get their help on making the decision.
To resolve more difficult conflicts with colleagues, it’s important to approach
the situation with a positive attitude and focus on solutions, rather
apportioning blame.
How to manage conflict in a team
Finally, how do you handle conflict between team members? The longer a conflict
between team members goes on, the more it will snowball. So, it’s important to
have difficult conversations with the team members early on. Look at issues
objectively, and make work-related outcomes and behavioural expectations clear.
Alternatively, where both team members have credible ideas on a solution yet
cannot find common ground, draw on a senior member of staff to help find the
compromise.
Team conflict is normal
It’s important to understand that a conflict-free workplace is not necessarily
a good thing. Conflict is both normal and healthy. It’s all about managing team
conflict and creating a culture where dissent is encouraged and where everyone
feels safe to disagree with one another can spark innovation, and future
success.
Knowing how to deal with conflict in a team; especially unhealthy conflict is
important. Indeed, healthy conflict is not toxic. Nor will it destroy your work
environment or company culture. In fact, handled properly through appropriate
team conflict management activities, conflict can generate that spark of
ingenuity that is so important to the health of the business.