At any company, it’s the management team’s job to motivate employees, provide guidance, and spearhead innovation. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on these important tasks, many managers spend a lot of their time resolving office conflicts—between 20-40% of their time on average. It’s not the best use of any manager’s valuable skills and experience. Not to mention, unresolved conflicts within an office can be a drain on employee productivity, creativity, and morale.
So how can managers and leaders foster a healthy office environment where disagreements are quickly and effectively resolved? The key is implementing a clear conflict resolution plan that empowers employees to solve disputes and stops most problems from ever escalating. Here are 8 simple techniques for successfully resolving conflicts within your office.
Build a Strong Team
Respect is the basic foundation of any strong team. Before you can expect your colleagues to effectively resolve disputes, you need to foster a sense of empathy and understanding within your office. Take the lead by getting to know your employees’ skills, working styles, and personalities, and encourage other team members to do the same.
Train Your Team
Some formal conflict management training will set your team up to strategically handle issues as they come. You’ll learn the fundamentals of problem solving in an office environment and get all employees on the same page. You can take advantage of resources like the Mediation Training Institute, which offers turnkey mediation training programs.
Establish Clear Guidelines
When you equip people with clear conflict resolution guidelines, they’ll have the tools they need to respond appropriately to all kinds of disagreements. Establish a bulleted list of your company’s basic guidelines and post it in highly visible places throughout your office as a reminder of the process. One good example would be: “If you’re involved in a conflict with someone, speak to that person directly instead of conferring with other colleagues.”
Model Constructive Conflict Behaviors
To encourage others to resolve problems quickly, model positive conflict resolution behavior yourself. Your direct reports will likely take the cue and naturally follow your lead. To set a good example, pay attention to each person’s perspective, practice good listening skills, accept constructive feedback, and try to create an inclusive environment where differences are respected.
Incentivize Your Employees
To further incentivize employees, make it clear that conflict resolution skills are highly valued and necessary to progressing their career within your company. The competency should be emphasized through every step of getting hired and being employed on your team:
- Hiring process
- Training
- Daily or quarterly goals
- Performance evaluations
- Reward systems
Celebrate Success Stories
When team members successfully resolve internal conflicts, it should be celebrated. This helps to build morale on your team and encourages people to continue following the guidelines. Don’t shy away from acknowledging important conflicts on your team. Instead, bring them to the forefront and talk about how working through the issue has made relationships stronger.
Give Regular Feedback
Your company probably already gives formal performance reviews. Integrate a review of each employee’s conflict resolution abilities to encourage them to continue honing the skill. Formalized 360 assessments, like the Conflict Dynamics Profile®, are a good way to help employees improve self-awareness and gain insight on their performance from bosses and peers. It’s also beneficial to have regular, round-robin feedback sessions with your immediate team. These meetings help cultivate an atmosphere of open and honest communication and are a good opportunity to bring up any current misunderstandings or divisive issues.
Get Senior Leadership On Board
To be truly effective, conflict management policies should be introduced from the top down. Broach the subject with your superiors, to see if they would be on board with introducing a mediation program at a larger scale. When senior leadership follows your conflict resolution guidelines, it sets the tone that they should be taken seriously by everyone.
