8 Strategies to Resolve Conflict at Work

Conflict is as constant and inevitable as breathing and walking. There are different causes of conflict, such as miscommunication, power struggles, different personal values, different personality styles, conflicting goals, lack of information, stress, and emotions, to name a few.

Here are eight strategies that can help you resolve conflict more effectively in your career:

1. Don't avoid conflict

Acknowledge the conflict so you can open the door to a solution. Conflict will find you wherever you go. For instance, at work, you might have goals or wishes that differ significantly from another person's. By shifting your perspective, conflict can present opportunities and promote creativity, learning, and growth if managed effectively.

2. Stay calm

Don't personalize a disagreement. Focus on behaviors /issues, not the personality. Pause and step away to analyze the situation. Practice impeccable integrity and take the high road at all times. Engender trust. Colleagues will respect you far more if you don't fly off the handle in the heat of the moment.

3. Practice self-awareness

In conflict situations, you can react in less than favorable light if you're not self-aware. With self-awareness, understanding what triggers a reaction in a particular situation and observing and connecting to your positive and negative emotions minute by minute is the key to understanding yourself and managing conflicts more effectively. By practicing self-awareness, we can better understand our motivations and needs and communicate them more effectively with others. Then, we respond rather than react.

4. Listen to fully understand another's point of view before you speak

Use active listening and emotional intelligence throughout any conflict. To really understand what someone is saying, listen without interrupting, judging, or trying to fix things. Pay attention to what's important to others. For you to build long-term, healthy work relationships that last, the most critical needs of all parties involved must be met.

5. Validate what the person is saying

Be curious. Paraphrase what the person is saying. Pose open-ended questions and comments in a way that respects the dignity of everyone. You don't want people to feel like they're being cross-examined on a witness stand. Acknowledge what others are saying. Be genuine. Be sensitive to feelings by showing empathy, which helps diffuse defensiveness and anger and instead fosters problem-solving. Everyone wants to be heard. You want to avoid blame and finger-pointing and focus on collaboration and resolution.

6. Communicate powerfully and clearly

People need to know how you perceive something and why you think so. Your views and feelings are as important as other people's. You don't want to leave them in the dark, guessing your thoughts or feelings. Present the facts of the situation—what the key issue is and suggestions on improving it. You want to be authentic and truthful in a way that builds and strengthens relationships.

7. Be a problem solver and identify a solution

Problem-solving is a process of defining the problem, gathering information, creating a framework for solving the problem, implementing/testing solutions, and evaluating outcomes. As a leader, you must find the right balance between too much thinking/analyzing and taking action. It's a process that takes time and often requires that you engage in dialogues and explorations. Prioritize the areas of conflict, develop a plan to work on the conflict, and then follow through on the plan. You want to resolve the issue as a team so everyone can move forward with results.

8. Be aware that there's more than one way to resolve conflicts

Experts such as Thomas Kilmann use five different styles in resolving conflicts: Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, and Accommodating. It's helpful to understand your It's important to have an understanding of our conflict style and the impact our conflict style has on other people so we better choose how to respond to others in a conflict. In more complex cases, you may need a mediator to choose a conflict mode that best fits the specific situation to arrive at an optimal resolution.

Conflict can be your friend, so embrace it. Incorporating the above strategies into your daily behaviors can significantly impact your success as a leader, motivator, team builder, and role model. Learn to handle conflict more effectively, and you'll find that your professional will become more rewarding, more fulfilled, and less stressful!

Filed Under: Communication | Conflict Management | HR | Management | Emotional Intelligence | Workplace Conflict