Workplace and stress can account for millions of dollars of lost revenue every year in the US. Along with monetary loss, it also causes a great deal of unhappiness. Fortunately, much of this can be avoided. However, the question pertains to HOW it can be avoided. Core concerns that cause conflict include the need for affiliation, appreciation, status and autonomy.
Resolving a Conflict
Resolving a conflict can be as simple as making a person feel more appreciated. This can revolve around positive acknowledge, and also confirm to you that you understand their concerns. If someone does not feel a part of your team, then it is best that you do something positive which gives them a better sense of belonging.
If someone feels that their views are not respected, find ways to include them more when making crucial decisions. Finally, if the conflict is occurring due to status, then make sure that you are recognizing them. Keep in mind that it is possible that more than one or more aspects are playing their part when you are trying to resolve a conflict.
If you are willing to resolve conflict then you have the mindset of a great leader, and you also understand what it takes to be a great CEO. Below, you will get to know about 5 specific steps that you can immediately begin to use when trying to resolve conflicts. It can very fearful and intimidating when trying to resolve conflict, but once you have these steps implemented and practiced, resolving conflicts will become much easier for you.
Conflict resolution is key for innovation and wealth. If you want to create something great for your career, organization and business, you need to be willing to resolve conflicts that are going around you.
Be Clear
You have to be very clear and transparent with the workers. You need to ask people what they would need to create a better product than the one they already have. What would need to exist for you to have a better customer service experience. Moreover, what woulod you need to create team meetings where everyone would have the opportunities to contribute to your organization’s success.
Each of these examples come right out of experiences that clients have where there is an underlying conflict that had been going on for a while. You can then twist these concerns around by asking the above mentioned questions. Answering the What would need to exist….. Questions will help you clearly carve out the picture of what the ideal outcome looks like.
Once you have explored and brainstormed answers to your questions, then you can move on to the next step which is solely based on identifying the next actionable steps that you want to take.
Experiment
As part of the second steps, you also have to ask your team whether they are willing to follow you and agree with you. You also have to realize that for the next six months, you are going to experiment in a certain way. It also helps you get agreement from each of the key stake holders and the people who you collaborate way to create the momentum which is important for creating a solution.
However, keep in mind that this step does not have to go down as easily, and people will sometime not agree. This is when you will have to move on the third step, which involves determining who has the authority.
Determine the Person with the Authority
You need to find out who owns the right to make the decision, and once you figure that out, you have to set the key accountability in your organization. Based on that, you can assort people and let them own the right to make certain decisions. As a leader, you may even oversee other people who have authority to make decisions over certain sectors or aspect of your organization.
If they continue to make good decisions, then you can reward them with recognition or incentives. On the other hand, if the authority maker fails to make the right decisions, then you cannot keep this moving forward as it will create a conflict. Once conflict arises, you need to step in and resolve the conflict that is going on.
In this instance, you will need to guide the authoritative individual on what they are doing wrong. You will also need to teach them a new way of thinking about the executions of the project. If you do not know clearly about who owns the authority, it is advisable for you to ask the boss and do a check-in. You can also ask the logical people that would make sense.
You may be part of a leader ship team, and then you realize that one of your accountabilities as a leadership team has not been clearly defined. You then begin to notice what you have to do. If you are the one that is caught in the middle of a conflict internally, and the other person does not even know that you are in a conflict, then you have to resolve the conflict up front.
Commit to Resolving Small Conflicts
Bigger conflicts will usually occur after smaller ones have trickled down and escalated into something big. In this instance, you have to be very quick to resolve smaller conflict and not take any misunderstandings lightly. Be proactive in maintaining peace as much as possible, and address everything that happens in the office presence.
You also have to make sure that you have your finger prints on the issue up front, and many of the best product innovations have come from resolving conflicts. Therefore, do not think of resolving conflicts in an office space as an unproductive activity.
Make Peace with the Decision, Move Forward!
When you, as a conflict resolver make a final decision, then your workers need to live with it, whether they like it or not. If you cannot live with the decision, then it may be time for you to go somewhere else. You need to teach your team to build emotional intelligence habits so that they can realize that it is very important to make peace with their decision.
There will be times where you have they will have to accept the decision in order to live happily without conflicts. You have to realize the conflict in the workplace or anywhere else is perfectly normal, and arguments take place everyday. They are also resolved every day. It is not conflict itself that is damaging, but rather conflict that remains unresolved.
Final Thoughts
Resolving conflicts is not easy. It requires you to do the internal work to release bitterness, resentfulness and judgment from the other person’s life. It is a lot like exercise and financial planning, since thriving in this skill takes careful consideration and plenty of experience.
Part of this notion also has to do with making peace with what is happening in this world. If you are willing to resolve conflicts, look at what the real issue is, and identify solutions, then you can get into the experiments that enable you to explore options. Following these steps will help you find new level for your success.
