The workplace can be stressful at times, anger can be taken out on colleagues at times because of the close vicinity everyone must work in. A manager must take control of work conflicts and be able to acknowledge when they are occurring, anger isn’t the only emotion that occurs during a workplace conflict, people can just as easily feel sad, confused and unsettled in work and at this point a manager will need to step in before employee feel uneasy going into work.
Conflict in the workplace should never be ignored and pushed under the rug, it will only cause the issue to erupt in the worst manor in the future and could possibly get to a point where the business needs to get employment solicitors involved.
Here are the steps a leader needs to take to help address or avoid conflict and make the workplace a positive environment.
Positivity
Sometimes there isn’t anything anyone can do to avoid a disagreement at work, as a manager confronted by this you must always remain positive and don’t dismiss people straight away. Acknowledging both sides of the argument is key to understanding how each member of staff thinks, when doing this it proves your understanding of the employee and they will respect your final decision more for understanding both sides of the story.
Some staff members may not agree with your decision and may continue to complain regarding the previous issue, this will make the workplace unproductive over time so speaking to the individual on a one to one basis may help them understanding and reasoning for the decision.
Find a Resolution
As a leader being decisive will give your team confidence in your decision making, however making the right decision is key. Rushing to an answer won’t always be the best approach for considering a conflict further and resolving the issue correctly is more important than just making snap decisions. So, seek out the truth and make the correct decisions your team will respect you more in the long term.
Professional or Personal
A lot of colleagues become friends outside of work, considering that a conflict may have stemmed from outside of the working is always worth asking about. A personal conflict may be harder to deal with in the workplace but as a leader asking more questions and helping colleagues relationships outside the work will help their working relationship also.
Dealing with Fault
Being a good leader is dealing with faults in a professional way, making an employee feel upset should never be the goal. If you know someone is at fault for a workplace conflict dealing with it in a way that helps the employee better themselves in the future is always the best path to choose.
Accepting fault as a manager is admirable also if there was a way you could have avoided the original conflict happening at work then accepting fault and apologizing will open colleagues up to also accepting fault too.
Further Steps
If a manager has gone through all the correct steps during a conflict and there are still individuals behaving inappropriately I.e. workplace bullying speaking human resources may be the best approach to the discrepancy so the individuals know the level of seriousness that their action will lead to. in the worst cases, sadly it might be time to get a 3rd party employment lawyers involved to handle the issues occurring. contacting dispute lawyers can help give you more clarity of issues regarding staff.