Mental Health Tips - Managing Conflicts at Work
Managing conflict at work
Conflicts at work can be stressful and counterproductive for everyone involved.
Common causes of workplace conflict:
- Increased responsibility, often with little authority - as the number of supervisors and administrators shrink, employees are increasingly asked to ‘pick up the slack’. Yet, they often face ‘turf’ issues, because they don’t have the authority to recruit or lead other employees
- Multiple tasks and multiple leaders - when dealing with competing job demands, disagreements can develop over how to prioritize and when to complete specific tasks
- Increased involvement in teamwork - groups of individuals, working together for the first time, can encounter conflicts as they deal with differing work ethics, varying levels of commitment and the challenges of time and resource limitations
- High stress - the frantic pace we keep today makes everyone irritable and hard to please at one time or another. Stress heightens emotions and can lead to poor communication and misunderstandings
- Last-minute crises - people who leave things to the last minute, then dump their problems onto someone else’s desk, raise the stress quotient in any workplace
- Lack of appreciation - when extra effort goes unnoticed and unappreciated, resentment simmers and may surface as conflict at a later date
Effective conflict resolution techniques:
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Learn what triggers your emotions - it’s much easier to avoid or control emotional outbursts when you know your own ‘hot buttons’
- Walk away when you’re angered by someone’s actions or comments. Count to 10 - or 100 if you need to - before responding. Make a point of never addressing a problem while you’re still fuming
- If something or someone bothers you, deal with problems as soon as possible, rather than holding it in and letting your resentment build (remembering, of course, to wait until you’re calm enough to deal with the situation rationally!)
- Listen to other people carefully and be sure you understand their positions. Don’t make assumptions about what you think you heard
- Express interest in the other person’s opinions. You can acknowledge someone’s point of view without necessarily agreeing with it
- Try to be objective when dealing with conflicts or criticism - address problems, not personalities. Know your facts and avoid gossip and personal attacks
- Be careful not to express hostility in your posture, facial expression or tone of voice. Be assertive without being aggressive
- Minimize problems by working co-operatively with colleagues and others. A little graciousness goes a long way - be willing to extend yourself to support or help others
- When addressing job-related issues, make a point of clarifying expectations for every assignment and be clear about the priorities
- When working with others, establish an action plan, so that everyone involved is on the same page and knows their responsibilities and targets
Tags: conflict, conflict resolution, Health Tips, Mental Health Tips, stress, Stress Management, work life