\n<\/strong><\/h2>\nBuild a platform for collaboration<\/h3>\n
Before people can resolve their differences, they often need to find an area of shared interest, so they have some common ground to build on. That might be an important project or quarterly earnings goal that can be used as a point of focus. If nothing else, help your employees see that everyone wants the organization to succeed in its mission. They may be more willing to compromise or give alternative ideas a try if they know everyone is truly working for the same purpose.<\/p>\n
Address behavioral and performance problems<\/h3>\n
These issues should be addressed whether they\u2019re causing conflicts or not, but especially if they\u2019re creating office drama. Tolerating behavioral and performance problems, especially when they affect the work of your good performers, will only hasten your most talented employees out the door.<\/p>\n
Teach people how to communicate clearly and effectively<\/h3>\n
Communication is a skill, and not everyone is good at it. Being able to communicate well takes more than an understanding of grammar and syntax. It also takes empathy, candor, an ability to read people and anticipate how they might perceive and react to what\u2019s communicated. Perhaps most importantly, good communication skills require the ability to listen. If an employee doesn\u2019t have these skills, then you need to teach them (or find someone who can). Your employees will be much more adept at working through conflicts if they know how to communicate.<\/p>\n
Practice conflict resolution techniques<\/h3>\n
There\u2019s no better way to develop and maintain skills than to practice them. Set aside time at a company offsite or team meeting to role-play different conflicts; you can call this \u201cworking through scenarios\u201d if you think your team will bristle at the thought of acting. These practice sessions will give your employees an opportunity to work creatively through impasses without stress and frustration\u2014and without hindering their work. They can then apply these skills to the real-life conflicts that will inevitably arise.<\/p>\n
In some cases, conflicting parties will not be able to resolve their differences, and no resolution will please them. That\u2019s life. You don\u2019t always get your way. And while you can\u2019t \u2013 and shouldn\u2019t \u2013 try to regulate people\u2019s feelings, you can and should set high standards for professional behavior. But part of setting and enforcing those high standards will involve managers and HR professionals stepping in, setting the scene for conflict resolution, and accepting that the resolution might not always be comfortable. It will, however, make the organization stronger.<\/p>\n
Want HR strategies like this one, along with guides, checklists, and more available 24\/7? Learn more about our HR services<\/a>, then request a free quote<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unresolved conflict is one of the most dangerous threats to an organization. That’s why we’re offering some helpful conflict resolution strategies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[176,16,19],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-6784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consulting-services","tag-conflict","tag-employees","tag-human-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6784"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6788,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6784\/revisions\/6788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6784"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=6784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"helpful](\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/checkmate-1511866_1280.jpg\")
The recipe for workplace conflict is decidedly simple: bring two or more people together and assign them a task. Unless the stars have aligned in your favor, there\u2019s going to be some cause for disagreement between them, and if conflict ensues, their ability to cooperate will suffer. Regrettably, too often employers tolerate unresolved conflict because it isn\u2019t a legal matter with potential fines, they\u2019re busy with other things, they don\u2019t know how to manage it, or because doing so is sure to be uncomfortable. But unresolved conflict is one of the most dangerous threats to an organization because it prevents people from collaborating and working efficiently, and successful teamwork is essential to your bottom line. That’s why we’re offering some helpful conflict resolution strategies.<\/p>\n