In a perfect world, your employees would get along seamlessly without concern for disagreements or animosity. However, the workplace is not that simple, and your team’s dynamics will likely ebb and flow over the course of your business.
While internal conflicts are a natural part of managing personnel, such issues shouldn’t cause turmoil or hinder your team’s performance. Strong leaders can detect and resolve disputes before they spiral into bigger problems. It’s not a matter of sweeping it under the rug or putting a temporary Band-Aid over a bigger concern. Instead, you must face it head-on and employ problem-solving techniques to not only resolve an internal conflict but prevent it from recurring again.
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Follow these four conflict-resolution strategies to keep trouble at bay and work through any friction within your organization.
Bring sides together
When a conflict escalates to “he said, she said,” it can feel like you’re walking on eggshells between two opposing parties. Ensuring everyone feels heard is vital, but that doesn’t mean you should pick sides. Instead, get everyone on the same page by focusing on goal-oriented solutions that promote the good of the business.
People can differ on the details while agreeing on the big picture, so always bring it back to a place where your team can rally together. For instance, your sales and marketing teams might not see eye-to-eye on the most important key performance indicators (KPIs), but they can fall behind a shared goal to increase the booking rate by 25%. You can parse the specifics later, but it helps to remind them that everyone is on the same team.
Become a pro at problem-solving
Nine times out of 10, internal conflicts result from a communication breakdown. Misunderstandings can seem minor, but they can quickly balloon into a significant concern without transparency and respect. Before that happens, respectfully bring the issue to light and sit down with the involved parties to discuss a solution.
Avoid pointing fingers or making assumptions about a disagreement. Instead, bring an open mind and create a safe space for each party to express their feelings openly. Ask questions to understand how the dispute started, discuss options for compromise, and create a plan to avoid such an issue from arising again. In such an emotional situation, a level head always wins out!
Promote further collaboration
While you can’t prevent disagreements, you can teach your team how to work through conflict independently by providing more opportunities for them to work together. It might seem counterintuitive to encourage collaboration between people who haven’t gotten along in the past, but doing so can help them bridge the gap and band together to achieve a common goal. It also prevents employees from feeling disconnected from the rest of their team, ultimately inspiring camaraderie, friendship, and loyalty.
Assigning shared projects is one approach, but there’s no need to keep it work-related. Collaboration comes in many forms, and it could mean more for your employees to unite over a community volunteer day or game night. For example, escape rooms have become a popular team-building activity for companies to demonstrate cooperation in a fun, no-pressure environment.
Provide extrinsic motivators
Sometimes, internal conflicts stem from overall feelings of dissatisfaction, boredom, and resentment. In these cases, addressing the issue at hand doesn’t resolve the underlying problem. Working through a disagreement between employees doesn’t fix deeper frustrations in the team, so it’s important to dig into the hidden causes of such disputes.
As a leader, your team relies on your guidance and encouragement to succeed. Consider how you show appreciation for your employees and what you can do to boost motivation and job satisfaction. Everyone responds to incentives differently, so one person may enjoy an afternoon off while another might value a simple note of recognition. Get to know your team and make sure they feel individually supported.
Many factors contribute to workplace harmony on both individual and organizational levels, but maintaining a people-first attitude is the first step to keeping the peace in your company. When you show your employees how much you care about their happiness, they will become loyal members of a team that cohesively works with one another.
