Billions of company dollars and millions of company hours are sacrificed every year to workplace conflict. Maintaining a positive and collaborative work culture where each employee contributes in some form can be a helpful way to ward off spending time and money on resolutions. Employment relations and conflict resolution go hand-in-hand, so the way your employees interact with each other can determine whether or not you’ll have a a culture of productive conflict management in the workplace.
Employment Relations and Conflict Resolution
There are certain elements that must be present in a workplace that is aiming to reduce the impact of conflict. While we’ve shared about communication skills, de-escalation practices, effective mediation approaches, and other coworker conflict services, one thing that can help prevent conflict consistently is focusing on how your teams can manage employment relations and conflict resolution. Here are a few pillars to expect from your employees in service to this goal.
Be Positive
Being positive can be challenging in stressful situations. And “good vibes only” isn’t necessarily authentic and healthy for any human. But maintaining a certain degree of positivity can help reduce the kind of pessimism, criticism, and gossip that can lead to conflict. If you’re resolving conflict with a coworker that’s already happened, positivity can come in handy, too. By looking for hopeful outcomes, you can generate energy, creativity, and collaboration toward solutions rather than staying stuck in the problem.
Remain Personable
While we may find ourselves irritable and avoidant at times, it’s important to engage with your team, leadership, customers, and vendors in a personable way. This can help reduce tension before it even begins, allowing others to connect to you on a more human-to-human level. Remaining personable also helps reduce conflict because when issues are addressed or feedback supplied, effective conversations can follow suit. When you think about how to settle disputes between employees, one thing you might think of is acting in a way that allows people to step in and speak to you. So even when conflict is active, remaining personable can make the difference between resolution and an ongoing issue.
Act Professionally
Some employees have different ideas of what professionalism is, or how its importance matters in specific workplaces. This can create personality clashes among employees as well as reduce trust overall. How you present yourself at work not only informs what others expect from you, it informs how they communicate with you. Being professional helps remove barriers to others feeling as though they can connect with you effectively. Professionalism doesn’t have to be boring, it just has to represent yourself and your company as a leader in your market.
Stay Proactive
Understanding common factors of tension and how to reduce workplace conflict can help you stay ahead of conflict before they become larger issues. Providing your team with skills training can help them join you in remaining proactive against early signs of conflict.
If exploring this employment relations and conflict resolution has you considering making some changes to your organization, don’t go it alone. Get support from neutral and experienced professionals who can diffuse rather than ignite the tension at work. Contact Pollack Peacebuilding Systems today to get the right solutions for your team.
