How to Deal with Conflict at Work as a Manager

For the most part, colleagues work well together and enjoy working as a team. In fact, your workplace is probably a friendly community most of the time. However, conflicts can arise for a multitude of reasons, especially in fast paced and stressful industries. As a manager, you need to know how to deal with things in a professional, understanding and consistent way.

De-escalate

Before you try to deal with the conflict by finding a solution, you need to de-escalate the situation. Conflicts can quickly devolve into raised voices and personal attacks, especially if both parties are passionate about their opinions and viewpoints, and won’t back down. Try to ensure everyone is calm and respectful before you begin settling any conflict, and approach the situation in a calm and understanding manner.

Listen

When there is a conflict in the workplace, you need to allow all parties to express their side of things. Give everyone the opportunity to tell you what happened, what the problem is and what their desired resolution would be. Ask as many questions as necessary, and try to understand all sides. The more you know about the disagreement, the easier it will be to find a solution that’s fair to all parties.

Focus on Solutions

A lot of managers make the mistake of focusing on the conflict itself, rather than working to find a solution that everyone is happy with. Focus on finding solutions and a compromise that treats everyone fairly, regardless of who is deemed to be in the wrong or right. Of course, this is based on the assumption that nobody is being totally unreasonable in their grievance or demands. Instead of spending time trying to decide how the conflict started or taking sides, focus on finding a solution and ensuring that it doesn’t happen again.

Follow Up

Once an agreement has been reached, follow up with all parties to ensure that the conflict has been resolved. There is always a risk of someone being unhappy with the solution, or someone feeling as though the solution hasn’t quite solved the problem. It’s a good idea to check in with everyone involved to ensure they are satisfied with the outcome. This will also reduce the chances of there being any other problems going forward.

There is no denying how important the role of a manager is, but it’s impossible to do everything at work. This is why we offer a wide range of services, including help with leadership and people. To find out more, get in touch with the Profici team.