Conflict and leadership are two faces of the same coin. In order to successfully lead you have to learn addressing conflict in a productive and healthy manner. There is a fear among the employees regarding the workplace conflict. Most of them try to avoid it. However, sometimes it becomes impossible to escape from issues that give rise to conflict. As a leader you have to understand the nature of the conflict and work towards resolving it. Your inability to deal with a conflict may also bring your downfall as a leader.
There are several examples showing how an otherwise savvy professional cannot prosper in career because of their inherent fear to be engaged in some form of conflict. Remaining numb hoping that the conflict will soon be over is not an effective solution for solving the problem. Hardly the conflicts resolve by own. Before small conflict escalates into something serious, you must deal it proactively and properly.
Reasons behind workplace conflict
There can be several reasons that can create disputes in the workplace. Competition, struggle for power, discrepancy of performance, ego, pride, jealousy, opposing position or just for someone having a bad day. These reasons can be broadly categorised into two. These two major causes of conflict are clash of personality or disagreement on the way of work.
The conflict of ideas is often favourable for the companies, especially when the employees are ready to brainstorm for a better solution. It can be an improvement over the original idea. Conflict of this kind is healthy that introduce positive changes which otherwise will never happen. However, if such conflicts are not productive and the clashes simply mean wastage of time, it is necessary to step in with a resolution at the right time.
Clash between two individual in a workplace are rarely productive. The reason behind such dispute can be either personal disliking or disagreement on a business practice.
Lack of communication can lead to conflict
If you examine the conflicts that you have encountered over the years, you will soon realise that most of them resulted because of miscommunication. Either the information is not transferred or is misrepresented. Even those who are lucky enough to receive the appropriate information do not know what to do with it. This may also lead to a problem. Concise, timely, accurate and clear communication can reduce the number of conflicts.
Emotion can be the reason behind conflict
A common mistake often made by savvy executives is when they use emotions for making decisions. Unknowingly many individuals place their emotional superiority ahead of their mission. However, if the executives will let the emotional drives control their decision without considering any other factors, there will be extensive probabilities that such actions will not be successful. Before making any decision, the executives need to evaluate all the pros and cons. Decisions taken in that way is highly acceptable and reduce the grounds for conflicts.
Dealing with the conflict
In order to maintain a healthy environment in the organisation, there should be effective and accepted conflict resolution process. Having a proper conflict resolution process will not help much if the conflict is not addressed as soon as it emerges. Any disputes in the workplace can only be resolved if the parties involved understand the advantages of resolution and more significantly are willing to resolve the matter.
Some tips that can be effective to handle conflicts in workplaces are
- Encourage a uniform business practice
- Clearly define the job descriptions
- Promote effective communications
- Define in public what the company norms regarding what is accepted and what not
Try to identify the areas of potential conflicts and proactively work on those areas to erase its probabilities. If a conflict is already there, identify the grounds behind the conflict and take action to restrict it immediately before it becomes uncontrollable.
Sometimes even after enormous effort it is impossible to resolve the workplace conflict. If you think that the situation will automatically change, you are wrong. When a conflict cannot be managed by the efficient employees of the company, it is best to consult with a professional specialising in this field from outside. The experts not only resolve the disputes, they can also frame a disciplinary guideline for your company. You may refer to www.lighthouseriskservices.com for necessary advices in this matter.
