One of the trickiest aspects of a manager’s job is sometimes conflict management. Employees can become agitated, and underlying issues at work frequently come to light during a conflict resolution discussion. If you handle conflict well, it can be a great opportunity for you to solve problems for your business and boost team morale, but if you handle it poorly, your team may lose trust and respect in your management.
It’s a common misconception that those who are emotionally intelligent or sensitive are the best at handling these circumstances. However, having emotional intelligence does not guarantee that you will be adept at resolving disputes at work. Every manager needs to learn and practice conflict management techniques, just like they do with other types of communication. This article will outline techniques you can use at work to turn conflicts into chances to improve your environment and your team.
14 Effective Conflict Resolution Techniques
Examples of conflict management skills
You can develop certain abilities to succeed at handling conflict in the workplace. The most effective conflict management combines many of these skills. To prevent any conflict from adversely affecting the workplace, use the following six conflict management techniques:
Effective communication
The ability to communicate effectively to resolve conflicts is one of the most crucial abilities you can have for conflict management. Effective communication may entail using a direct yet friendly tone when addressing others during a dispute. It also entails speaking precisely and clearly in an effort to prevent any misunderstandings.
In order to communicate effectively, you must pay attention to the person you are speaking to and modify your language and body language accordingly. Refrain from using language thats hurtful or inappropriate.
Active listening
By engaging in active listening, you communicate to others your desire to hear what they have to say and your desire to comprehend their viewpoints. Looking the other person in the eye, nodding as they speak, and then pausing to consider what they have said before responding or posing questions are all signs of respect. When you actively listen, you can hear different viewpoints that can improve how you handle disagreements.
Practicing empathy
By deliberately taking the time to consider another person’s viewpoint, you can understand how they are feeling. Empathy allows you to consider the pain points of your counterparts while also better understanding their needs, wants, motivations, and goals.
Although empathy may come naturally to some people, it is also a skill that you can develop by seeking and offering feedback, asking questions to understand a different point of view, being open to disagreements, and developing trust with your coworkers and managers.
Problem-solving
Many conflicts arise or worsen because there isn’t a workable solution to them. If you have strong problem-solving abilities, you can come up with an original solution that will satisfy all of the parties to the dispute. In order to demonstrate problem-solving abilities, you might come up with potential solutions, work with others, try to fully comprehend the underlying problem, and then offer a just solution.
Positive attitude
You can process and resolve conflict so that your workplace becomes more cohesive by keeping a positive outlook. Positive thinking enables you to acknowledge that mistakes do occur, which enables you to resolve the issue amicably and move on.
Level-headedness
When you have good judgment, you can manage your emotions at work. This degree of emotional intelligence can prevent a conflict from needlessly escalating. With it, you’re able to approach conflict with a composed demeanor that facilitates resolution, improving the working environment. Conflicts can intensify and become more difficult to resolve if you lack this ability to control them.
What are conflict management skills?
You can control how conflict affects you, the people you work with, and the workplace as a whole by developing conflict management skills. Given that conflict is unavoidable, conflict management aims to make it a useful aspect of the workplace. If you have the necessary skills, you can contribute to a setting where conflict is accepted, managed, and used constructively.
How to improve conflict management skills
You can develop your ability to manage conflicts if you put in the effort. Follow these tips:
Conflict management skills in the workplace
Here are some ways to demonstrate your conflict resolution abilities at work:
Have patience
You must be patient when speaking with everyone about a potential or ongoing conflict if you want to successfully manage it. You must have the patience to hear everyone’s viewpoint and the patience to take the time needed to manage the conflict going forward. You can also avoid conflicts by being patient because it makes you less likely to give in to a frustrating situation.
Understand body language
The body language of others can provide you with cues. Simply by observing whether they cross their arms, roll their eyes, or make any other gestures that convey their feelings, you might be able to tell if they are angry, frustrated, happy, or relieved. Additionally, be mindful of how others may interpret your body language.
Be impartial
Staying unbiased is one of the best ways to handle conflict, even when it involves a close friend and a new coworker you don’t know well. Consider asking someone else to mediate the conflict if you don’t feel you can do it impartially. Being impartial means standing up for what’s right in a given circumstance and mediating a dispute in a way that benefits everyone involved.
Be open to discussion
You must be willing to discuss the circumstances and situation you are in if you want to manage conflict. So that a conflict doesn’t have a negative impact on the workplace, discussion is an important part of conflict management. Furthermore, conversation makes it easier for everyone to comprehend one another’s viewpoints and feel at ease expressing their own opinions.
Reference the company values
Everyone who works there is aware of the company’s values, so it’s crucial to uphold them when resolving disputes. The company’s values serve as a reminder of the type of culture it is attempting to create and how everyone has a duty to uphold its rules.
How to highlight conflict management skills
Although it’s an essential component of any workplace, managers may not be actively looking for conflict management skills when they are hiring new employees. However, if you are aware that the position might require it, you should consider how to emphasize these skills. Heres how:
Conflict management skills for resume
Consider including your conflict resolution abilities in the skills section of your resume, particularly if you’re applying for a management or human resources position. By doing this, you’ll assist a hiring manager who may be skimming your resume comprehend how you can manage conflict and guide the workplace to function well. Utilize conflict management-related terms throughout your resume where appropriate to avoid sounding forced.
Conflict management skills for cover letter
You have the chance to elaborate on something in your resume or share information about your work personality that might not be appropriate for your resume in your cover letter. Even though your cover letter shouldn’t be too long, you can still discuss a circumstance from a previous position where your ability to manage conflict allowed you to contribute to a productive workplace.
Conflict management skills for the job interview
Before a hiring manager decides which candidate to hire for the position, you will frequently make your last impressions on them during the job interview. Be sure to maintain eye contact, listen intently to what the interviewer has to say about the position, pay close attention to the questions they pose, maintain an open body posture, and clearly communicate your responses.
The hiring manager may even inquire about a time when you had a disagreement with someone else, such as a client or a coworker, and how you handled the situation. Here, you are free to talk more about your experience and your success in transforming a potentially harmful conflict into a gain for the workplace.
FAQ
What are conflict management skills?
- Effective communication. …
- Active listening. …
- Practicing empathy. …
- Problem-solving. …
- Positive attitude. …
- Level-headedness. …
- Have patience. …
- Understand body language.
What are the 5 conflict management strategies?
There are five main conflict management styles, according to the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI), which is used by human resource (HR) professionals worldwide: cooperating, competing, avoiding, accommodating, and compromising.
How can I improve my conflict management skills?
Practice active listening and communication skills. Practice not interrupting while the other person is speaking. Verify that you comprehend what the other person is saying. Communication gives people a chance to express their ideas, problems, and the causes of their conflicts.
What are the 4 steps to conflict management?
- Communicate. Open communication is key in a dispute. …
- Actively Listen. Without interrupting, hear what the other person has to say.
- Review Options. Talk over the options, looking for solutions that benefit everyone.
- End with a Win-Win Solution.
