It is quite understandable when you are in the office and there are conflicts as they are unavoidable. Even the most positive environments will occasionally end up as conflicts with people who are at odds with one another. Instead of viewing the conflict as a negative situation, you need to use it as an opportunity where you can improve communication, interpersonal skills and relationships, and also the team culture. If you are interested to know about how conflict management is helpful, read on to know more.
The shift of the mindsets
When you start, think about the way you think about the conflict. How does this come as a necessary evil when you bring the employees together in a group setting? Learn to view each conflict as one of the ways to learn more about how certain team members operate. You will also understand how they are contributing to the company in a meaningful way. The different ways they respond to a situation and how they require a course correction. Hence, you need to have a mindset shift as to how you are viewing the conflict.
Listening not hearing
Active listening is the key to resolving any issues. You cannot fix any problem when you are not understanding why the conflict was taking place. It is essential to understand and listen to the parties and then ask them clarifying questions to dig on what is going on. Find out if there are any circumstances that might lead to a completely avoidable outburst. Apart from this, see if there are any external factors that are influencing the team. You have to be familiar with the story and you can always develop the solution which can resolve the conflict for everyone.
Trying to initiate the conversations
Making conversations happen or facilitating the conversations is a part of the active listening itself. You may try and encourage the person who are in conflict to have a dialogue with each other about what transpired. Then, you and the people themselves may discover the insights on their own which can clear up all the miscommunications or which lead to a better understanding of what actually went on. Thus, asking the right questions at the right time will help it to progress the narrative and this will lead everyone to a resolution.
Being empathetic
When you are trying to resolve a conflict, you need to be able to put yourself in the person’s situation to understand why they have reacted in that certain way. You will know that they need to exactly support them in the conflict. You will have to be able to relate to them when they are saying something and make them feel that they are being heard and acknowledged.
Mediating between the team members
Another valuable skill one can have in the conflict resolution is being able to effectively mediate between the team members when they have conflicts with one another. It does take a lot of work when the two upset team members have to sit down and have a conversation but if you can process a smooth mediation between them, then maybe it can be much easier to resolve all the conflicts.
Being accountable
Accountability for everything makes you realize the mistake you have made. You need to be accountable for your actions. If you have not intended to cause any issue and something went wrong, you need to own up for it. Thus, when you are resolving conflict you need to clearly communicate this to the parties when they are in conflict. This is how healthy conflict resolution takes place.
Being completely transparent
When there is a conflict be it in your personal or professional, transparency has to be there. If you are transparent about the decisions you are making regarding the resolving of a conflict between the team members, then you can avoid any kind of accusations of being biased to a party or another person.
Authenticity
In every action you do, there needs to be some authenticity. Stand with your conflict resolution methods and try to be authentic with your team. Nobody wants to hear the clichéd advises or one size fits all approach to the conflicts. Be a little personal and then make a customized approach to resolve their issues.
Conclusion
Cloverleaf has an excellent perspective to broaden the knowledge behind the conflict resolution methods. If possible, always try taking a third party coaching service which is backed with terrific technology tools and have huge experience in resolving issues. Cloverleaf does an excellent job of providing solutions to your personal and professional conflicts and they can handle any team of any corporate office. They offer different services and one such service is the personalized coaching with high-quality modules and data-driven insights.
