A conflict within a team can either enrich or destroy it. Good conflicts encourage respectful debate and lead to solutions that arise from a concerted agreement, often much better than those initially proposed. Bad conflicts occur when team members are unable to overcome their differences, which destroys productivity and hinders innovation.
Published by Abilene Christian University, the following infographic provides you with 9 tips to prevent conflicts in the workplace and distinguish between a productive work environment and an unproductive one.
–Admit, first and foremost, that conflict is inevitable. The challenge then is to harness that conflict and use it to benefit your work.
– React quickly, before things escalate. Otherwise, there is a risk of seeing the conflict grow and the work environment deteriorate.
–Knowing the nature of the conflict is also essential to resolving it quickly: your time is valuable.
– Reaching a compromise. A workplace conflict is resolved much more easily when both parties feel like winners.
– Knowing how to separate things. The conflict should remain in the professional sphere and should not affect personal relationships between the parties involved.
– Listen to each party’s point of view and remain open-minded. Systematically contradicting each other won’t help you resolve the problem. On the other hand, the other person must do the same on their side.
– Keeping a cool head: being aggressive will only worsen the situation.
– Calling in a mediator: if the previous advice has not been enough to resolve the conflict, there’s no need to persist. An outsider to the conflict can steer the discussion in a more productive direction
– Anticipate conflict: to avoid a tense situation, establish clear goals, make sure everyone understands the guidelines, and develop a standard negotiation process to follow in the event of a conflict.
In the United States, conflict management represents an average of 2.8 hours per week.
89% of employees have experienced a conflict that has escalated.
10% of employees have seen a project fail as a result of a conflict.
From a conflict, 27% of employees have received insults or personal attacks.
- 95% of employees who received training on conflict resolution say they now know how to better manage them.
