Almost every employee will experience workplace conflict at some point. It wastes 2.8 hours per week for US employees, a total of $359 billion in paid hours. Which gives organizations 359 billion reasons why conflict resolution in the workplace is important.
In addition to wasting huge amounts of time, conflict in the workplace can negatively impact employee experience and mental health. It leads to awkward atmospheres, people walking on eggshells, and the employees involved not wanting to come to work.
That inevitably impacts their performance, too. Studies suggest it leads to a 12% reduction in employee productivity.
However, ¾ of employees believe that their direct manager should manage workplace conflicts more effectively. So there’s a skills gap that could be filled through additional training and increased awareness of the impact conflict resolution in the workplace can have.
It’s vital that companies find ways to resolve conflicts, as unresolved workplace conflicts can lower a company’s success rate by 20-30%. That could make a huge difference to a company’s performance in both the short- and long-term.
How to resolve conflicts at work
It’s inevitable that employees will disagree about things at some point, especially as teams grow in size.
However, managers need to learn how to handle conflicts with respect, allowing everyone to feel heard.
Employees, meanwhile, need to know how to be respectful toward their colleagues. They need to learn to disagree amicably without getting rude or personal.
Here are some tips to improve conflict resolution in the workplace:
Clear communication
Communication is a key pillar of success in any team. Managers need to be able to talk to employees in a clear way, and one that makes them feel recognized.
Employees, meanwhile, need to say what they mean without being rude or disrespectful to colleagues.
Giving everyone communication training—whether they’re in a conflict or not—can help with this, as it teaches everyone how to communicate in the same way.
This isn’t the same as encouraging groupthink. Some people will read into a conversation more than others, which is one way that communication conflicts can occur. When employees understand each other’s ways of communicating, and find a middle ground, it can help to remove or reduce some of the reasons why conflicts occur in the first place.
Accordingly, clear communication can form the foundation of effective conflict resolution in the workplace.
Active listening
Active listening ensures everyone feels respected at work.
Little things like not talking over each other, and repeating what someone has said, show that you understand. It also shows that you’re not spending more time thinking about how to reply than on listening to their point.
This is an undervalued skill, but it’s key to managing healthy relationships at work. It’s also, unsurprisingly, key to conflict resolution at work.
Even if someone’s suggestion isn’t the right fit, enabling them to be comfortable saying something will ensure they feel appreciated in the workplace and not invisible.
Compromise
Over a third of conflicts happen due to issues with style or strategy. This is inevitable when you’ve got different people from different backgrounds, with different ways of thinking, working together.
Managers need to come up with ways for employees to compromise on these different ways of doing things. However, they need to do so in a way where everyone still feels seen and heard.
They also need to work out what the best course of action for the business is while maintaining psychological safety. It’s a fine line to tread, but one that’s vital to addressing conflict resolution in the workplace and keeping employees happy.
Targeted training
60% of employees haven’t received training on conflict resolution in the workplace. There’s a simple solution to this: more training.
Whether it’s coaching, mentoring, workshops, books, e-learning, or something else, the more training managers and employees receive on conflict resolution in the workplace, the easier it will be for them to react in a rational, not emotional, way to challenges that arise at work.
Training topics can include how to stop conflicts from escalating, how to ensure everyone feels heard, and how to keep debates respectful.
Respectful discussions
People will always have different opinions. In some cases, that can lead to more creative problem solving.
However, it can also cause more conflict if employees aren’t taught how to challenge each other in a respectful way.
When challenging ideas, discussions should feel like just that: discussions. Not attacks, or people shouting at each other.
As soon as voices get raised, or emotions come into play instead of logic, it can lead to people feeling attacked, decisions being made based on what people want rather than what the business needs, and at worst, accusations of workplace bullying. No one wants any of that.
Respectful discussions only happen when people feel psychologically safe and have the right training.
An element of this comes from managers leading by example. For instance, keeping their tones neutral and their emotions out of the conversation.
This then has a ripple effect on employees, who follow that example. They can use the same techniques to talk to colleagues even if they disagree.
Positive conflict resolution in the workplace doesn’t just happen on its own. It generally needs to be taught, then reinforced by example.
Psychological safety
When employees feel psychologically safe, they’re not afraid to be wrong. That means they’re less likely to get defensive over their ideas or feel attacked when someone disagrees with them or questions their suggestion.
It’s also important that employees don’t feel like they’re going to be punished for making mistakes. The risk of this is that people are afraid to speak out when they see something going wrong. They may worry they’ll get blamed and be reprimanded for it.
The more secure employees feel, the more comfortable they’ll be in their roles. Then, they’ll be less likely to take out any fears they may have on their colleagues.
This reduction in fear can help foster healthier conflict resolution in the workplace.
Conclusion
Unresolved conflicts at work can impact your business’s long-term success. The key to conflict resolution in the workplace is more training for managers and employees so that they don’t take these discussions personally. Instead they’ll be respectful debates where everyone feels heard.
Get employee insights faster
Want to elevate conflict resolution in the workplace across your organization? Workrowd can help! With deeper visibility across your employee experience, including automated surveys and real-time analytics, you’ll always have your finger on the pulse of your people’s needs.
Empower your team to take action faster and nip conflicts in the bud. Get in touch today to book your free demo. Visit us online or send us a note at hello@workrowd.com.
