Most of us deal with various conflicts at workplace on a day to day basis. I am sure you must have faced conflicts as well with your colleagues or your boss. Before we discuss about how to manage conflicts at your workplace, let us understand what conflict actually is.
Conflict is basically having a difference of opinion among your team members or it can be with your boss as well. For example, let’s say your boss told you to deliver a presentation on ‘How to improve listening skills?‘ You researched well and prepared the presentation thoroughly including real life examples. However, your boss said that the presentation is very generic and lack content. You know very well that it’s not the case. How would you respond to this? Now, you have a conflict with your boss. Let us check below how we can manage conflicts effectively. I will take this example in most of the strategies that I am going to put below for better understanding.
Listen, Respond and Discuss
Actively listen to what the other person is saying before you respond. In the example discussed above, even if you know that the presentation you prepared is not generic, you respond to your boss stating that you did put examples from real world and ask him whether he is looking for something more to be added. It might happen that your boss did not notice those examples and that’s why he called it generic. Mistake can still happen from your side as well. The examples you mentioned may not be relevant. So, always have an open mind and never have any preconceived thoughts. If you are still not able to understand what your boss is trying to say, ask him to clarify one more time. With more discussions between you and your boss, you will be able to figure out the correct way. The moral of this technique is that never disregard one’s comment. Think through that comment, then respond and have more discussions if required to resolve the conflict.
Never avoid a conflict
The best way to resolve a conflict is to face the conflict rather than avoiding it. In the same example, we discussed above, what would have happened if you would just have agreed to your boss’s comments instantly rather than thinking over it. What if you would have figured out in the end that your boss rather made a mistake in analyzing the content? Would you not regret your decision then? Note that conflicts if resolved in a collaborative manner are always healthy. Sometimes conflicts help us to understand the other side of the picture. If you had a healthy conflict with your colleague, it would definitely help you to understand the loopholes. If you can work further on improving those loopholes, then you will yourself figure out that you are improving as a person or your skills are developing.
Be calm and composed
If you think that you are not satisfied with the comment your boss made for the presentation, don’t get angry. I know you really worked hard to get it prepared and such kind of a comment sometimes hurts. However, keep your composure. Remain calm in that situation. When you remain calm, then only you can have an open mind and you can think from your boss’s perspective. If you get angry, then you are unconsciously switching on your defensive mode and you try to justify why your boss is wrong. Never do that. If you see situation is going out of control, take a deep breath and relax. You will immediately figure out that you have a better way to manage the conflict.
Take your time
Now there can be a scenario when a conflict cannot be resolved immediately. In that case you can ask your colleague or your boss ” I get what you are saying but I think I would need some time to analyze your thoughts. Could we meet next Monday to discuss again on this?” By asking this question, what you did is you bought yourself some time and at the same time you made sure that you didn’t ignore your colleague. You also have specified a specific day to discuss on this. This is really good as sometimes people don’t specify any date and they never get back to discuss. But keep in mind that don’t keep on postponing this conflict. The more you postpone, the more time it will take to get the conflict sorted.
Conclusion
Apply the techniques described here at your workplace. I do apply these techniques as well at my office and these really work for me. I hope this article helps you to manage conflicts effectively.
Waiting to hear some comments from you. Leave a comment below if you like this article. Thank you for taking your precious time to read this.
