Managing Conflicts At Work

Humans generally strive to avoid conflict at all costs, whether it’s at home or work. Unfortunately, conflict is an inevitable part of life – even if you’re not in a conflict yourself, you can still be affected by one going on with someone else. It’s not pleasant, but needs to be dealt with promptly and effectively.

Humans generally strive to avoid conflict at all costs, whether it's at home or work. Unfortunately, conflict is an inevitable part of life - even if you're not in a conflict yourself, you can still be affected by one going on with someone else. It's not pleasant, but needs to be dealt with promptly and effectively.

At work, if you're a manager, team leader or head of a project, you need to know how to manage conflict confidently. Other skills will be brought into play, such as tactfulness, listening skills, assertiveness and teamwork. If you have conflict with someone in the workplace, no matter what your position, you should know how to deal with it in a way that doesn't damage the business.

When presented with a conflict, either between yourself and someone else or two or more others, the worst thing you can do is ignore it. When unacknowledged disagreements go ignore or unaddressed, they will only escalate. Mediation is usually required - we all know that arguments very rarely end happily on their own. Leaving it, sweeping it under the carpet or just "hoping" that the problem will go away is a sure-fire path to failure.

Remember that conflict doesn't just affect those who are having the disagreement. Conflict causes unease and unhappiness to anyone around who happens to be witnessing it. Even if it's a small conflict, it creates a negative atmosphere - another reason why you shouldn't ignore it when it's happening, thinking it will blow over.

If you find yourself in the position of having to mediate, try to speak to the conflicting people together, not on their own - both of them will want you on "their" side and you run the risk of being accused of taking such sides, if you see people individually. If you were called into your manager's office along with a person you were conflicting with, it is easier to sort things out, there are no misunderstandings or crossed wires and everyone is present to hear every side.

"Sides" are the issue here - a conflict arises when two people don't see eye to eye on something and won't compromise their 'side' of things. If you have the two (or more) conflicting people together, as previously mentioned, ask them to give their point of view and what they want the other party to do. Make suggestions for a compromise, after hearing both sides - if you're in a position to do so. It's all right to disagree - so long as you do it in an assertive way. Very few people will think an answer to a conflict is to have the other party simply agree with them and go along with them - it won't happen. Conflicting adults are adults nonetheless, and are expected to act like one. Some conflicts (for example, bullying in the workplace) are completely unacceptable and have no justification - don't be afraid to ask for outside help (for example, your human resources team) if you are forced to deal with something as unfortunate as this kind of conflict.

The act of bringing the conflict to the attention of the disagreeing parties is often the first step to the openness that will resolve it. People who disagree have broken down communication where their emotions have got the better of them, killing any chance of a compromise. By being a mediator, you are opening up a channel of communication, through an impartial third party (that's you), which often helps to sort out any conflict quickly.

Believe it or not, the more conflicts you solve, the better you will become at it - nobody wants to be dragged into a conflict all the time, but once you recognise the signs, furnish your knowledge with the solutions, and learn to prevent the conflict from affecting you personally, you will become an excellent mediator, a good boss or colleague, and a well-known problem solver - all excellent skills in the professional world - agreed? No? Let's hope that's not a conflict!