Sometimes employees at the workplace get into conflicts and it’s hard to know how to handle them, therefore it’s crucial to have conflict resolution skills when they do. Skills for conflict resolution are those needed to settle disagreements, whether they arise amongst members of a team or between parties outside of the group. These skills are useful for everyone who wants to resolve conflicts in a positive way and find common ground in order to achieve their goals. In this article we will discuss how to improve conflict resolution skills and some of the examples.
But before learning and improving on these skills, it’s important to have a solid grasp of what conflict resolution actually entails.
What is Conflict Resolution?
The term “conflict resolution” refers to the process through which two or more people work together to amicably resolve an argument or disagreement. Friends and family members aren’t the only ones vulnerable to conflict; so are coworkers, clients, and customers. Having poor conflict resolution skills in the workplace might have serious consequences.
However, you shouldn’t go out of your way to avoid conflicts, as they’re an inevitable part of any relationship, whether personal or professional. Instead, you should hone your skills to negotiate peaceful outcomes. Possessing effective conflict resolution skills allows one to mend fences with an adversary while keeping the friendship or partnership intact.
In addition, lacking effective conflict resolution skills will make dealing with these unavoidable challenges much more challenging. Dispute resolution will be more time-consuming, and a larger debate may arise, which could strain the parties’ relationship.
Why Is Conflict Resolution Important?
In the business world, as well as in interactions with customers, conflict resolution is essential. In order to solve a problem, people in a conflict situation need to work together, and this is exactly what conflict resolution does. At work, it’s important to foster a community of people who can resolve conflicts constructively and productively. No workplace is ever going to be completely conflict-free, so it’s important to equip employees with the tools and skills they need to deal with conflicts in a mature and effective manner.
In the workplace, faster solving issues due to conflict resolution can increase productivity. The time and effort spent worrying about a problem should be better spent fixing it so that people can get back to work as soon as possible.
While ineffective conflict management can cost businesses time and money, resolving such disputes can boost morale, productivity, and employee retentionYour ability to resolve customer issues boosts customer loyalty, retention, and brand confidence.
Bringing people together to find a solution to a problem strengthens their ability to work as a team. The ability to set aside disagreements and work together to find a solution that benefits all parties involved is a sign of great strength. As a result, people will see that you are more keen on finding a solution to the problem than proving your point. Resolving differences of opinion is crucial for establishing trustworthy relationships in the workplace.
As a whole, a respectful work environment is created through conflict resolution. Nobody likes to start their workday fretting over the potential severity of a dispute they might have with a coworker. By establishing a foundation of open communication and trust in the workplace, conflict resolution makes it possible to swiftly address disagreements and go on with your day.
What Are the 3 C’s for Resolving a Conflict?
Despite their importance, measurements are just reflections. Exceptional businesses monitor their metrics frequently. Knowledge of member growth, loan growth, retention, account penetration, and other metrics is crucial to the health of your balance sheet. There is significance to the numbers on your financial performance report. However, culture is the primary factor in an organization’s performance, with metrics emerging as an indirect result of a healthy culture. When working with customers, in any industry, disagreements are inevitable. War is a fact of life.
Your day-to-day tasks may include resolving a conflict between two employees or calming a borrower who is upset over a late payment. Unresolved conflict is one of the fastest ways to undermine an organization’s performance, and cultures that encourage open communication tend to thrive. When work isn’t getting done, it’s often due to poor teamwork. Conflict resolution is an art, but these methods can be used consistently to lessen tension.
#1. Consistency
Maintain a uniform strategy wherever possible. Stay true to your policies and be explicit about the areas where adjustments may be made and the areas where they cannot. Make sure you’re always treating your coworkers and colleagues with dignity and respect by reflecting on your own actions. It’s only normal to favor spending time with some friends over others, but everyone is deserving of respect regardless of whether you like them or not. Consider whether your communication or reactions to a given person have been consistent in the past. This is especially important for smaller financial institutions that lack the means to employ human resources professionals full time on premises. Successfully resolving conflicts often requires looking inward.
#2. Communicate
Although it may seem apparent, the first step in solving any problem is to make an honest effort to do something about it. Because of the potential danger to one’s values and sense of self in tense or difficult situations, many people would rather avoid them if at all possible. A little but decisive move toward doing something can have a big impact. It’s constructive to approach a person who’s agitated, acknowledge the tension, and start working to alleviate it. Get a third party involved when you need to, or when there is ongoing dispute between people in your group.
#3. Composure
Take it easy. Due to the emotional nature of a conflict, this can be a challenging phase. Try to approach the argument without taking sides and without letting your emotions cloud your judgment. If a group member is being hostile toward you, it can help to treat them with dignity and calmly acknowledge their conduct while asking them to stop yelling at you. When someone addresses you quietly, it’s difficult to maintain your loud tone. Before getting involved in an emotionally charged situation, try re-framing the circumstances in your head and letting go of whatever preconceived notions you may have. You might take away some useful information.
At long last, resolve. It’s easy for a discussion to drag on and get stuck in a rut if no one knows when to stop talking. When a conversation has been stuck, it can be helpful to acknowledge the conflict’s origin, accept that it has already taken place, and then ask the other person what they would want to see happen next. Say something like, “Ms. Rose, I am sorry we handled the situation incorrectly, and we care about your concerns,” if a member is upset because of something the financial institution did wrong. Unfortunately, this has already taken place, and it can no longer be undone. What do you need to feel better about how things are going to go from here on out? It typically helps the furious person move from a problem-focused to a solution-focused mindset.
A sincere effort to discuss and resolve conflict may do wonders for an organization’s morale and standing.
How Do You Handle Conflict at Workplace?
The following are some steps that can be taken to aid with many workplace conflicts:
#1. Stay Calm and Take a Moment
Taking a few deep breaths before attempting to resolve a quarrel can assist. You can also relax by sitting down instead of standing and by releasing tension in your neck and shoulders. Put both feet flat on the floor instead of crossing them. Hold your arms at your sides, not crossed or flailing.
#2. Discuss the Conflict Privately and Professionally
Distractions can result from both conflict and its resolution. Look for a quiet spot where you can concentrate on solving the issue. Everyone involved in mediating the conflict should be seated at the same table. You might want to think about providing some water for the chat.
#3. Exhibit Flexibility and a Desire to Work Together
There are a variety of conflict resolution strategies that could be more appropriate in certain contexts.
- Avoiding conflict may be the best course of action for minor disagreements.
- When the other person looks more invested in finding a solution than you do, it could pay off to adopt a more flexible approach.
- When time is of the essence and you must make a firm stand, a more accommodating approach may be the best option.
In most other major conflicts, however, it is crucial for the parties involved to reach an agreement on a mutually acceptable solution. Let go of your ego and your argument’s tenuous hold on you from time to time. Demonstrate to the other person that finding a win-win resolution is more important to you than winning the argument or proving your point.
#3. Don’t Place Blame
Conversely, taking the offensive is also an act of disrespect. Taking the offensive establishes a bleak premise, making it difficult, if not impossible, to find a workable answer.
Avoid assigning blame or creating an atmosphere where anyone would feel uncomfortable raising their hand. The best method to resolve a conflict at the workplace is to give each party time to state their case without fear of retaliation or interruption. After all, if the roles were reversed, you wouldn’t like it either.
#4. Avoid Taking Things to Heart
A conflict with a client or coworker is rarely about you as a person. It typically entails rules and regulations that you, as an employee, must follow, or the unspoken expectations that others have of you in your position or field. Therefore, a quarrel that arises is not necessarily a personal attack.
Since their point of view represents such an integral part of who they are, many people become defensive, angry, or adamant when challenged. If you can detach yourself emotionally from the conflict, you’ll be in a far better position to accept a mutually beneficial compromise or cooperative resolution.
#5. Focus on What People Aren’t Saying
We can’t all be experts at walking right into a fight. These are the types of persons who are more likely to choose conflict avoidance or accommodation strategies. These folks will avoid arguments and may not be entirely forthright about their wants and needs. Pay close attention to their nonverbal cues when in these settings.
When someone says one thing but means another, you can read it in their body language. Being able to read someone’s emotions allows you to pick up on inconsistencies between their words and their body language. Someone who says, “I’m fine,” but then looks away when they say it isn’t true. Then you can arrange things so the other person feels safe opening up to you.
#6. Pay Attention to the Current Conflict, Not Those of the Past
It’s easy to get angry at the other party while you’re trying to resolve your conflict with them. This may remind you of disagreements you had in the past. It may seem like the best time to bring them up, too, in the heat of the moment.
The 48-hour guideline is one that I find useful. Within 48 hours of noticing a disagreement or a source of irritation, you should reach out and ask to discuss it. After that amount of time has gone, you can drop the issue. So, it’s not helpful to bring up unresolved, long-simmering tensions from another issue in an effort to find a solution to the current one. The moment has gone, and now is the moment to focus on the here and now.
#7. Choose Peacemaking Over Proving Your Point
In most cases, you cannot resolve a conflict at the workplace by simply avoiding it. Maybe your manager just changed the rules without consulting you or you got a call from an upset customer. No matter what it is, it has nothing to do with you.
As a result, you may need to take a step back and examine the situation in this way when trying to find a solution to the conflict. Even if you have a firm stance on one side of an issue, it may be best to throw in the towel if doing so will lead to an improvement in the situation for everyone. Sacrifices like that are sometimes necessary in order to resolve a conflict.
Benefits of Conflict Resolution
Here are some of the benefits of conflict resolution.
#1. Active Listening Is a Lesson in Conflict Resolution
The ability to listen attentively is crucial in almost any situation. No method of dispute resolution will be successful unless careful attention is paid to the other party or parties involved. Active listening entails not jumping to conclusions, keeping an open mind, returning a speaker’s words with your own, and asking follow-up questions. Many participants in talks, especially ones involving differences, fail to listen attentively and instead wait for their chance to speak instead. The goal of active listening is to fully comprehend the speaker you are listening to.
#2. Promotes Retention
If an employee is having problems at work, there is a greater probability that the employee would look for work elsewhere. Conflict resolution can persuade individuals to remain with an organization, enabling the corporation to keep the expertise and information of its more seasoned workers.
#3. It Encourages More Honest and Open Communication
After a conflict has been resolved, the need for effective conflict resolution skills at workplace remains. Relationships where conflict has been present nevertheless value skills like active listening, patience, and emotional neutrality. All parties should keep the lines of communication open to make sure everyone is satisfied with the progress being made. In the case of more disputes, a history of open communication might help defuse tensions before they boil over. Consequently, preventing new disputes from arising is also an important part of conflict resolution.
#4. One Learns to Empathize With Others
Empathy is beneficial in any and all relationships. This includes friendships, sexual relationships, and professional interactions. Most people have some innate capacity for empathy, but it’s also trainable. Empathy is the cornerstone of active listening, patient discourse, and open communication, all of which are necessary for people seeking to hone their dispute resolution abilities. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes, experience what they’re going through, and respond sympathetically. When people feel heard and valued, conflicts are easier to resolve.
#5. Relieves Tension
The people involved in a conflict, as well as their managers and any coworkers or customers they encounter with, can all benefit from a reduction in stress if the conflict can be resolved. Stress reduction is beneficial to both mental and physical health. People who experience less stress are also better able to concentrate and give their whole attention to their jobs.
What are Conflict Resolution Skills?
Skills for conflict resolution are those that enable people to manage and resolve disagreements in constructive ways. Anyone in a position of authority, such as a leader or manager, can benefit greatly from developing these abilities. Individuals with these abilities are more able to see things from other people’s points of view, find areas of agreement, and work together to solve problems. In addition to alleviating tension, they help keep confrontations from boiling over.
The easiest way to master these skills is to work on them one at a time. Get everyone in the conflict involved in regular communication practice. Anyone can learn to resolve conflicts effectively and become a valuable member of any team or organization with the right amount of practice and direction.
The Importance of Conflict Resolution Skills for Leaders
Managers and leaders who don’t have conflict resolution skills aren’t doing their jobs. Whether it’s a disagreement between team members or with external stakeholders, the ability to do so quietly and without resorting to violence is essential.
Conflict resolution abilities allow people to confidently and expeditiously resolve conflicts and disagreements. In addition, managers may foster an environment of open communication and collaboration, improving both morale and output.
Managers’ productivity increases when they are equipped to handle conflicts effectively, which in turn lowers their stress and anxiety levels. These abilities also facilitate the peaceful resolution of conflict, which is crucial to one’s emotional and psychological well-being. Lastly, having the ability to resolve conflicts can lead to greater teamwork and, ultimately, more happiness and fulfillment for everybody involved.
Overview of the Top Conflict Resolution Skills
Here are the top conflict resolution skills:
#1. Emotional Intelligence
Disputes arise when people are unable to understand one another, as was discussed earlier. Professional leaders aren’t afraid to ask questions and work through solutions, rather than shutting down or allowing others to do so. Asking open-ended questions that encourage participants to elaborate on their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs is one technique for doing so. People are more able to comprehend and sympathize with the experiences of others as a result of this.
When it comes to settling disagreements, EI is one of the most valuable skills you can possess. The four pillars of EI are introspection, action planning, social intelligence, and interpersonal competence. Relationships fall apart in times of tension especially if these gaps in information aren’t filled. Those who are lacking in EI are unaware of how their words and deeds affect those around them. This makes it difficult for them to maintain composure in high-pressure situations that call for traits like the ability to de-escalate tension rather than heighten it. As a result, EI is not something that leaders can afford to ignore.
#2. Mediation
Conflict resolution through mediation is facilitated by an impartial third party. It’s an alternative to suing someone or going to jail, and it helps people hash out their differences without a judge or police officer becoming involved. The mediator is unbiased and has dealt with similar cases before. Collaborative mediation, facilitation, and dispute resolution panels are all forms of mediation that can be used to help parties reach an agreement.
However, the purpose of mediation is to help parties come to an agreement that will work for everyone. In order to resolve a problem, it is often necessary to bring the issue to light so that it can be discussed openly and a solution that is acceptable to all parties can be found.
#3. Patience
Problems rarely have easy solutions. If they were, fewer than 22,000 individuals per month would look for the term “conflict resolution” online. People’s reluctance to admit error and subsequent stubbornness in the face of opposing arguments makes conflict resolution a challenging task. Conflict resolution with this kind of person requires a lot of patience on your part.
Though the answer may seem apparent, keep in mind that it may take some time to implement. You should give equal weight to everyone’s opinions and actively seek out their perspectives. Rushing to a choice, even if it’s the right one, can make some individuals feel that they weren’t included in the deliberation. (There is, however, an important caveat.)Making sure that all of your bases are covered now can help you avoid future frustrations.
#4. Active Listening
Listening to the opposing side of a conflict is the first step toward finding a solution. It’s tempting to think you’re right and ignore the other person’s perspective, but doing so won’t help you find a solution. Instead, it’s crucial to focus on being an engaged listener.
Listening attentively is not interrupting the speaker and instead concentrating on what they’re saying and how they’re saying it. Showing interest in what they have to say by listening attentively to their queries and concerns can earn you their respect. When trying to resolve a problem, it’s important to keep an open mind and try to understand things from the other person’s perspective.
It’s polite to mirror the other person’s word choice if they’ve done it to you. It’s okay to ask questions if you need clarification on what was mentioned. This shows that you paid attention during your conversation with them and that you want to find a solution to the problem at hand. One of the most essential skills in conflict resolution in the workplace is the ability to actively listen to the other side.
#5. Negotiation
To negotiate is to attempt to reach an understanding with another party or parties. It’s a crucial part of the process of settling disagreements and conflicts. One can acquire and hone skills in negotiation for use in a variety of contexts. Therefore, successful outcomes can always be aided by having strong negotiating abilities.
One of the most useful skills for conflict resolution is the ability to negotiate, which can bring adversaries together to achieve a common objective. However, effective and creative conflict resolution requires the ability to communicate with the other party, to listen to and comprehend what they have to say, and to work toward a win-win resolution.
#6. Collaboration
By limiting the potential for conflict in the first place, collaboration is an important skills for efficient conflict resolution in the workplace. Disagreements emerge all too frequently when members of a group have different ideas about what they should do next. It is your responsibility as a leader to explain the big picture and how individual goals contribute to its realization. Leaders should intervene to steer the team in the proper direction by asking whether the group’s actions and suggestions can actually achieve this goal.
Changing people’s focus from “I” to “we” is the first step toward peaceful conflict resolution. Organizations can reach their full potential when employees are encouraged to work together and make decisions as a group rather than in isolation. The destructive and conflict-inducing competitive mindsets of employees are also removed. Taking on a more participative leadership role and becoming effective at collaborative decision-making are two possible routes toward this goal.
#7. Observation
Effective conflict resolution relies on keen observation. A conflict can be better understood, and solutions that satisfy both parties, if one takes the time to observe it. Maintaining objectivity requires you to be in control of your own feelings and behaviors. The practical observation skills you’ll need to have depend on the nature of the dispute you’re observing.
If you’re having trouble resolving a conflict with your coworkers, for instance, it’s important to pay attention to how they communicate with one another and work together to find solutions. You should pay special attention to body language and other non-verbal indicators like facial expressions and tone of voice if you’re having a disagreement with a close friend or family member.
#8. Impartiality
One reason why conflicts are hard to resolve is that parties involved often diverge in their emphasis from the core issue at hand. In some cases, parties use a fight to finally voice long-simmering frustrations with one another. The current difficulty cannot be fixed unless the underlying problems of the past are dealt with.
It’s better to treat the persons involved as individuals and not as part of the quarrel. Don’t think too much about certain individuals. Focus on the actual issue at hand instead, and work to solve it. Although it may be necessary to address those concerns in the future, you should not put off dealing with the current crisis in order to address them. It’s essential, but it’s not urgent; repeat after me. Other essential concerns that prevent you from reaching your goals can be worked on at a later time, but you should focus on the most pressing ones right now.
Conflict Resolution Skills Example
Here are some of the top conflict resolution skills examples.
- An example of a boss using assertiveness would be one who calls a meeting between two workers who have been publicly arguing.
- A human resources professional can determine the root of a supervisor-subordinate dispute by conducting interviews and paying close attention to the answers given.
- A compassionate manager would urge employees who have disagreements to describe how the other party might be feeling.
- Managers from competing departments leading a group brainstorming session in an effort to resolve lingering tensions.
- The ability to act as a mediator between employees who are at odds with one another in the workplace.
- A rival at work is approached by a coworker who suggests they establish common ground and work together more harmoniously.
- A creative and resourceful manager who restructures the responsibilities of two staff members who frequently clash in order to remove potential sources of conflict.
- Employees who start fights at work are held responsible by having their supervisors include the incident on their performance reviews.
What Are the 5 Strategies for Conflict Resolution?
There are five strategies to conflict described in the Thomas-Kilmann Model. The two axes on which the five tactics fall are those of assertiveness and cooperation. Each tactic covers the spectrum from assertiveness to passivity, from cooperation to hostility. There is no such thing as a “bad” strategy, only the incorrect one at the wrong time.
#1. Avoiding
Avoiding conflict is an option for those who are neither forceful or cooperative in trying to resolve conflicts. This passive approach prefers to let the conflict fade out on its own.
This strategy is ideal for dealing with minor irritations, one-time blunders, and problems that would only become worse if addressed head-on. When someone uses up the last of the water in the water cooler without refilling it, that’s the kind of workplace problem you might want to avoid. Leave it alone if it’s an isolated incident. The two minutes of the all-hands meeting dedicated to discussing it are probably not well spent. Also, read CONFLICT MANAGEMENT: Best Strategies to Handling Conflict in the Workplace.
#2. Competing
Those who go into a debate about conflict resolution in the workplace with a competitive mindset have the attitude that they will take no prisoners. And the mindset that one must triumph at whatever cost.
The individual employing this strategy has no intention of working together with the other side, and they fully anticipate coming out on top in the end. Unfortunately, people who hold opposing viewpoints will not have their contributions acknowledged.
As a result of the one-sided nature of dialogues, essential aspects of the conflict are at risk of being neglected.
#3. Accommodating
People often adopt an accommodating manner when they wish to appear cooperative and low-key. Some conflicts can be resolved without resorting to full-scale war; these are the conflicts worth settling.
When a client or coworker is unhappy with the way things are being done but not with the results, it may be possible to work with them. You may have generated a report that provided the desired results for the other party, but unfortunately, it was only available in PDF format rather than Excel. Even though they didn’t state a preference, the other individual had issues with the delivery. Simply agreeing to the request demonstrates that you are a helpful, solution-focused team member. If you can provide the right report to them fast, you’ll gain extra credit.
#4. Compromising
When people are aggressive and cooperative in trying to work out a solution to a problem, they are more likely to reach a compromise. This tactic, which can appear harsh, is used when time is of the importance and there is simply not enough space to address everyone’s concerns. The compromise is founded on the most crucial and time-sensitive information that can lead to a good conclusion right now.
Since there have been problems with the venue, the team may have compromised on canceling the event at the last minute. Prolonging the conflict is not the ideal strategy for generating revenue, but it also does not assist the problem. The ideal solution for customers, employees, and vendors is to cancel the event and figure out the details afterwards.
#5. Collaborating
Collaboration allows each party to express their wants and requirements while still working together.
In a co-creative process, participants work together to generate ideas for a solution that will have broad support. When people work together, they increase the likelihood that everyone will be happy with the outcome.
How To Improve Conflict Resolution Skills
There is a wide variety of methods that have proven successful in resolving conflicts at work. If you want to improve your conflict resolution skills and have a productive meeting when resolving a disagreement, try the following approaches.
#1. Listen
The first step in resolving a problem should always be listening to the other party. If you want everyone involved in a dispute to feel heard, you need to develop good active listening skills and maintain eye contact with the other people involved. If you go into the conversation with the intent to listen first, you can learn that your assumptions about the other person’s motivations were incorrect.
#2. Don’t Be Emotional
Finding a middle ground in a quarrel requires both parties to keep their emotions in check. It’s normal to be emotionally invested in the outcome of a dispute, but letting those feelings drive a problem-solving session could make things worse. Leaders of conflict management workshops should encourage attendees to leave their feelings at the door. The parties to the conflict will be able to concentrate on the facts at hand and make reasonable progress toward a resolution.
#3. Find Common Ground on the Facts
Another step to improve your conflict resolution skills is to agree on the fundamental facts on which to base further negotiations and understanding. Methodically identifying and agreeing upon the core issues at play in a disagreement makes the task of working together to find a resolution that much less fraught.
#4. Try Some Flattery
Although it may sound odd in the heat of the moment, compliments can help reduce tension and give you more bargaining power when working out a dispute. If you praise your opponent, they may be more willing to cooperate with you to find a solution that benefits both of you.
#5. Keep a Good Rapport With Others
To keep their professional relationships intact, the parties concerned should separate their conflict resolution efforts. Friends and family members regularly argue with one another, so it’s only natural for coworkers to occasionally disagree with one another. Keep in mind that a single disagreement is not representative of your entire working relationship.
Conclusion
The capacity to actively listen, solve problems, negotiate, compromise, and maintain composure under pressure are just a few of the skills, talents and strategies that go into effective conflict resolution. Managers can discover mutually beneficial solutions by using the conflict resolution techniques discussed in this blog to comprehend other people’s points of view, find common ground, and resolve conflicts.
Additionally, having effective conflict resolution skills can result in better communication, enhanced output, and a happier workplace. To effectively manage and resolve conflicts at the workplace or in personal relationships, managers need to develop and refine these skills.
Conflict Resolution Skills FAQs
How Do You Handle Conflict Interview Answers?
Responding truthfully and emphasizing communication and conflict resolution skills are keys to answering interview questions on workplace conflict. If you change your mind about the conflict as it was going on, don’t hide the fact. Demonstrate to the interviewer that you are teachable and receptive to feedback.
How Do You Handle Conflict Gracefully?
Here are the steps on how to handle conflict gracefully.
- Repeat the serenity mantra
- Don’t let things become any worse
- Reestablish contact
- Assume positive intent
- Exhibit a spirit of reciprocity
- Put the past in the past.
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