Conflict is an unavoidable part of human interactions, scientists proved this. So, if you work with people, you need to prepare for it. Conflict resolution within a team requires finesse because you need to not only solve the problem but also ensure that everyone involved is able to work together in the future.
Of course, be it at work or in personal life, your priority should always be to minimize possible conflicts. In the office you might be able to do this by managing (or getting rid of) toxic employees and by building teams out of people with complementing personalities.
Sadly, I have to admit that often this won’t work. And when you are unable to prevent conflict, you need to resolve it with minimum damage. To do this, I suggest you remember that you are dealing in business, and this means that the “all or nothing” approach is a very bad strategy.
What you need is negotiation. The conflicting parties can’t reach a compromise on the main issue? That’s fine. Start them at some minor things that no one really cares about much. The point here is not to “win” or “lose” the conflict or even the negotiation. You need to establish trust and mutual respect, and compromise is key to that. And like with everything in life, you need to start small and take it one step at a time to succeed.
Another thing you can do to improve your conflict resolution skills is to develop your emotional intelligence. Start with taking the basic test that will show what level you are at right now. Next, start working on improving your skills. You can do this through books and specialized classes.
Finally, embrace mindfulness and find your inner zen. Yes, you can’t avoid conflict and you need to accept that sometimes things will go badly no matter what. So, don’t let that eat you up too much and always have a backup plan to use in exactly this kind of case.
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