Learning How to Handle Workplace Conflict Will Make You a Better Leader

Conflict is inevitable in the workplace and your ability to handle it affects your effectiveness as a leader. Successful leaders understand conflict must be resolved quickly and lead to positive, constructive conversations that help advance the team and keep it productive. This expert advice can help you learn how to handle conflict in the workplace and become a better leader.How You Manage Conflict Can Make or Break Your Leadership Career. Forbes: “One of the most valuable skills any manager at any level can have is the ability to handle conflict effectively. It’s crucial. As anyone who’s managed a day or more likely knows, conflict abounds in the workplace. It can be about anything: budgets, personalities, competition for limited resources, competition with other leaders. It can be with those above you or below you. Often it simply involves, for whatever reasons, human beings just not getting along with each other. One thing I did learn in my management days: The ability to resolve conflict quickly, diplomatically and effectively is the hallmark of a successful executive. If not resolved (or not resolved satisfactorily), conflicts fester. They become lingering distractions, ongoing problems, drains on productivity. I’d go so far as to say that how you manage conflict can make or break your leadership career.”8 Tips to Overcome Workplace Conflict With Employees. YFS Magazine: “Draft a plan spelling out what you want your employees to accomplish. An entrepreneur must know where the company is headed and to be able to put this in writing. Developing an effective workforce plan can save time and money. Having one is vital for a company’s success...The next step is to share this plan with project managers and employees. Let everyone know what they need to do. Don’t leave all the explaining to project managers. Interact with employees to be certain that everyone is on the same page...Pay attention to what employees have to say. Don’t assume you have all the answers. Encourage workers to ask questions and then listen carefully to what they’re saying. Don’t be afraid to admit that you may have been wrong in some cases. Refrain from arguing with those who disagree with you.”5 Keys to Resolving Workplace Conflict. The Arizona Republic: “Open with an icebreaker. Most people are ready to complain, debate or argue at the outset of any conflict. They've conjured up their best arguments and are ready for battle. For best results, don't go straight to the topic of the controversy. That will only get people stuck in their positions. Instead, try something different. What you need is a way to open a conversation about difficult issues in a non-threatening way. An icebreaker is not idle chit-chat, but a smooth transition. For example, the ideal opener might ask for a person's own take on something both work-related and positive. For example, if the conflict is between two workers involved in the same project, ask each of them how they became involved and what they hoped to achieve.”Management Challenge #15: When There is Conflict on Your Team. Training Magazine: “When you are coaching employees everyday, spelling out expectations, and tracking performance every step of the way, employees are less likely to worry about each other and more likely to worry about getting their own work done. And the more focused everyone is on the work they have in common, the more likely they are to cooperate. Most of the intramural conflicts will fall away under your strong, highly engaged leadership. When conflicts occur, you will be in a better position to evaluate and make appropriate decisions. If you find lingering conflicts on your team, even after you’ve filled the leadership vacuum, chances are you are fighting a conflict that has had too much time and space to fester and grow. Perhaps it’s an unresolved personality clash that has left ill will. Or maybe cliques have formed, ringleaders have emerged, or even bullies. You need to identify the problem and treat it aggressively. Beware: Surgical removal of the ‘tumor’ may be required if aggressive treatment does not swiftly render it benign.”Workplace Conflict: How to Defuse a Battle of Personalities. The Mandarin: “Sit down, one at a time, with each of the antagonists, and talk through what they believe is causing the impasse.  Encourage them to speak freely and in confidence, so that you can discover what bugs them most.  It could be Laid-back Lenny’s feeling of being micro-managed by Pedantic Penny, or Penny hating the way Lenny leaves everything to the last minute (causing her to nearly blow a fuse). Or Sebastian Snip is constantly finding fault with Casual Cath. Keep drilling down to whatever lies behind these conflicts, and proactively examine what could be done to assist the individuals into a happier, more fulfilled state of mind. Request that each leave the other to work on their respective tasks, and to communicate politely and proactively where possible.  Praise them when they do so, and encourage both to develop more understanding of what the other faces.”Do your organization’s leaders need help learning how to handle workplace conflict? Contact us for information on training and coaching.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.