Teamwork is the cornerstone of every successful company. The seamless collaboration between various departments helps a company reach its zenith. While HR must scout the best recruits that would complement a particular team or project, it is the manager’s responsibility to ensure that everyone on the team pools their resources and puts in their best efforts to boost the company’s overall productivity. In the words of Steve Jobs, “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.”
While teams work harmoniously, for the most part, there are times in every office when an inner conflict disrupts an office’s work environment. Conflicts could arise for multiple reasons, be it a difference in opinion, opposite beliefs, or ways of doing things. A team member could say hurtful things to others or insult them in public. Even minor disagreements could become huge issues if not resolved immediately. Recent statistics show that about 85% of employees and managers have faced office conflict. That said, office conflicts can be quickly resolved if they are tactful. With the help of coaching skills, managers can understand their team members better and resolve office conflicts efficiently through empowering questions and active listening. In this blog, we shall talk about steps
in which you can fix a team conflict efficiently.
1) Accept the conflict.
Often, when the team leader hears about a conflict within the team, they remain in denial and act as if the conflict doesn’t exist in the first place. If the news of a team conflict reaches your earshot, the last thing you should do is ignore it. Statistics show that 34% of disputes happen between entry-level professionals who don’t know how to manage a conflict effectively. It may seem trivial to you at the moment; after all, being a leader is hard work, and you probably have a lot on your plate at all times, but ignoring an office conflict while it is still benign might blow it out of proportion later on and cause a massive rift amidst the team members. It would adversely affect workplace morale and drop the efficiency of the team. So, instead of brushing it under the carpet, accept its existence and address it.
2) Stay calm as you hear the argument.
Managing a team conflict can be very stressful and sometimes even tricky. Once you accept the fact that there is a conflict within the team, try not to react to things before you hear the argument. Instead, you could ask them how the argument made them feel and why they felt that way.
The key to managing office conflicts is patience. Jon Kabat-Zinn, an American professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said, “Patience is a form of wisdom. It demonstrates that we understand and accept that sometimes things must unfold in their own time.” So, compose yourself and keep an open mind.
3) Practice active listening.
When team members come to you with their troubles, you must make everyone feel heard and respected. If you fail to make them feel comfortable enough to share their issues with you, they will stop trusting you or your judgment and consider the whole exercise a waste of their time. The key to making both parties feel valued is by actively listening to both of their stories. American poet and activist Bryant H. McGill says, “One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” Listening to their stories in their entirety will also give you a clear perspective on the issue and help you resolve it later on.
4) Be impartial to both parties.
This may seem very obvious, but you would be surprised how few people understand this point. We all have cognitive biases and sometimes form opinions based on them. As a manager, you should be aware of your cognitive biases and set your judgments aside while listening to their arguments. Doing this would also enable you to detach yourself from the conflict and evaluate the situation purely on what the team members tell you.
5) Discuss the issue.
After listening to everything both parties have to say, reiterate all the points you derived from both of their arguments. Doing this allows the teammates to correct any misunderstanding you may have had. When you repeat all their issues, it shows that you heard everything that they had to say and appreciate your empathy. Another plus point of this step is that hearing the arguments aloud enables them to hear all the views from a third-person’s perspective and gives them a chance to process and understand their feelings.
6) Find a middle ground.
After collating all the valid points from both their arguments, ask them what they think the solution to their issue is. After hearing their opinions, they might be more open to suggesting solutions to their disagreement. Ask them empowering questions about the conflict and draw out all the possible solutions to end the dispute amicably. If you cannot find a middle ground, you must remind them that they both work in the same team and share the same end goal. A compromise is an essential tool in the smooth functioning of an organization, and both members should set their differences aside and choose what is best for the company.
Conflict among team members is a common occurrence. It is only natural for people to have varying opinions and ideologies about things and unique ways of tackling a problem. This is why many organizations offer coach training programs to their budding managers and team members so that disagreements and conflicts can be resolved more effectively by inspiring them to come up with solutions through self-reflection. The Manager as a Coach program by Grow More Avenues explains the basic principles of coaching and how they can utilize various coaching tools and techniques to handle their team better and resolve team conflicts effortlessly.
Resolving conflicts efficiently keeps the team’s morale high, focusing more on achieving their personal and group goals. A manager with coaching skills is capable of understanding the strengths and needs of their teammates and helping them put their talents and abilities together to reach their team goal efficiently. As Napolean Hill says, “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.”
