Conflict Resolution « Enhancing Lives & Transforming Leadership

Conflict is inevitable when working with and interacting with others. It can diminish creativity, reduce productivity, impact decision-making and lead to a dysfunctional working environment. Building solid relationships with the people you work with and interact with is essential to resolving conflict and finding creative solutions. You don’t have to socialize with everyone you work with, but you must learn how to get along with them.

Peace is not the absence of conflict but the ability to cope. – Gandhi.

A recent study conducted by the HayGroup, a leading authority on emotional intelligence, concluded that EQ – soft skills – are twice as important as IQ – your technical ability – for most jobs. Soft skills are the new currency in today’s workplace. If you can’t communicate effectively, actively listen to what others say and get along with them, you stand little chance of successfully resolving conflict, finding creative ways to solve problems or negotiating wins.

If we can manage conflict constructively, we harness its energy for creativity and development. – Kaye

Generally speaking, there are three types of conflict; Disagreement, Misunderstanding and Actual Conflict. Here is what you’ll be able to do to resolve them.

Disagreement: When you have different opinions about a subject and neither has the authority to change them, resolve them quickly. When the discussion gets old, respect each other’s views and agree to disagree.

Misunderstanding; When communication breaks down, and only part of the message gets through, resolve it with courtesy, respectful assertiveness and, most importantly, good active listening skills. You may have missed something that the other person said. Have them restate their position, and you restate yours.

Actual Conflict; You may not like them, and they may not like you. Try to separate the person from the problem and focus on their needs. Come up with all the options available to you to resolve the situation. Be sure the solutions are based on objective standards. They can’t be because you said so.

Conflict is good in a negotiation process – it’s a clash of two ideas, which then, all being well, produces a third idea. – Roberts.

When conflict happens, step back momentarily and decide what you are prepared to do to fix it. Communication is the breakfast of champions. If you can learn to communicate your point of view so that the other person will understand and actively listen to what they have to say. In that case, you will be better positioned to resolve the conflict and find a creative solution you can agree on. Conflict is inevitable; how you resolve it is optional.

Copyright 2024 – Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. This post was written by Brian without AI assistance. Are you searching for a training provider for yourself or your management team? Brian specializes in soft skills training and leadership development. He helps others to communicate more effectively, establish rapport and build strong collaborative relationships regardless of gender or generation. To learn more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization, visit – https;//briansmithpld.com.

“You cannot love a person into creativity, although you can avoid their dissatisfaction with the way you treat them” – Frederick Herzberg. Words are powerful. The words you choose and how you say them have the power to build people up or tear them down. Drawing attention to a person’s mistakes is not going to be received well. I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t take “constructive criticism” personally. According to Collins Dictionary “construct” means to build while “criticism” means to pass judgement on someone. How can you build someone up while passing judgement on them?

You have a choice to make. You can either dwell on what they’ve done wrong or congratulate them on what they’ve done well – and what they need to do to improve. It can be as simple as replacing the word “but” with “and”. You can either dwell on the fact that they have made a mistake – or you can get past it by accepting the fact that everyone makes mistakes and move on from there. What is – is. What happened – happened. Change your mindset in a positive way by thinking about the mistakes people make as teachable moments. Use the opportunity to praise them for what they’ve done well and teach them what they need to do the next time , so they don’t keep repeating what went wrong.

Creating a teachable moment is an opportunity for both of you to grow. You’ll grow as a teacher and they’ll grow as a person by learning a new skill that will help them perform better in the future. The next time you have an opportunity to create a teachable moment use the sandwich technique. “Sandwich every bit of criticism between two layers of praise” – Mary Kay Ash. It’s a great way to keep your emotions in check and to turn the situation into a positive experience for both of you. You don’t want to change them – you just want to change what went wrong.

Step One: Start the conversation off by saying something positive about them or what they’ve done. Or how they contribute to the overall success of the team, department, organization, etc.. Remember – You are not looking to change them – you just want to change what they are doing that’s not getting the results you are looking for.

Step Two: Let them know the negative impact their actions are having and what problems they are creating. Let them know you are there to help them succeed. Ask some good open-ended questions to drill down and find out why these mistakes are happening. You can’t fix what you don’t acknowledge. Get their input on what needs to be done to fix it. Agree on a plan of action. You need to get buy-in so be sure to include their ideas in the plan.

Step Three: Let them know that you are looking forward to working with them. Let them know that you will be following up with them to make sure that the plan you’ve agreed on is getting the desired results. If not – you need to agree on a new plan. People do what you inspect not what you expect. Follow up, follow-up and then follow-up some more. You need to change the habit to change the result.

Copyright (c) 2014. Brian Smith – Reformed Control Freak. Looking for a keynote speaker or planning an in-house training session? Brian specializes in soft-skills training and leadership development. Contact Brian today. He will work with you to insure your event is an overwhelming success. To find out what Brian can do for you and your organization visit http://briansmithpld.com