At any workplace, not everyone gets along. For managers, this is precisely why conflict resolution is so important. Employees might not get along with each other or they might have a beef with the man in the penthouse office. No matter what the circumstance is, in order to restore peace, confidence, and productivity, you need to find a way to resolve a particular worker’s issues or grief and assuage any turmoil there might be in the office place. For a manager, conflict resolution isn’t something that just comes out of the box – you need to be prepared, have the right tools, and have lots of practice. It is also important to remember that if at first, you don’t succeed with a particular employee – you must try again. You can look out for some broad conflict resolution techniques that you can use at work on the website leedslearning.org.
Here are the 5 conflict resolution strategies for the workplace.
- Accommodation. Accommodating employees is one of the basic tenets of conflict resolution. Also, if you can’t give your employees exactly what they want, accommodating them with something else might be the only way to solve their issues. For instance, if an employee is upset with a coworker who works in a cubical next to them, why not accommodate that employee by moving him or her to a new cubicle or a nice new office? If you can’t find a way to accommodate them, surely you can find a compromise somewhere.
- Avoidance. Perhaps the only way to resolve a conflict is to avoid it altogether. This doesn’t mean put off the issue altogether, but find a way to make sure that a certain problem doesn’t pop up again. For instance, if there is an issue of an unproductive employee making it difficult for other workers to get their work done, you might have to move that employee, demote that employee or administer some kind of disciplinary action so that it doesn’t happen again.
- Collaborate. If you can’t resolve the problem with a single employee, perhaps the next best step is to have all the employees join in to find a solution. For instance, if the issue has to do with long workdays, maybe one of the 20 workers that you supervise has a solution so that the whole office can work together to complete different tasks – thus getting things done sooner so that everyone can enjoy a shorter workday. Discover effective workplace collaboration strategies at lcb-brand. Improve teamwork, communication, and productivity.
- Compromise. Another great strategy is compromised. Meeting your employees halfway will go a long way – much longer than if you let the conflict go on. If a certain employee wants a raise or a promotion, perhaps you could see if there is a way to improve his or her work conditions with a better parking spot, benefits, or assignment load. Something is always better than nothing – it’s a win-win situation for the employee and employer. Discover effective ways to reach a middle ground and resolve conflicts in the workplace with our comprehensive guide. Improve communication and collaboration to enhance productivity and foster a positive work environment. Search zero.net has got you covered.
- Compete. Kingsley Fletcher will be able to tell you that competition is a unique way for both parties to get exactly what they want. If there just isn’t a solution to a conflict – a little healthy competition can never hurt. If both parties reasonably understand that the winner takes all, there can’t be any more conflict about the issue at hand.
