Conflict Costs You Money

We just uploaded a new resource: Top Costs of Conflict, focused on organizations and companies.

It’s downloadable for free under “Resources.”

There are so many ways to consider the costs of conflict, that I thought it might be a good idea to list some here for your consideration. Keep in mind: Mediation is just one way to resolve conflicts, the conflicts that don’t feel good and cause you stress - that’s the focus for this post (and most of the posts we do on conflict).

Conflict is, simply, disagreement - and there are also so many ways in which it’s necessary for growth, innovation, and achievement. But that’s another blog post!

Costs Related to Conflict

• Lost time

  • This is the #1 cost related to conflict at work - the most common, the hardest to quantify, and yet I am certain - also the biggest cost.

  • Consider your rate of pay, and even what your aspirational rate of pay might be. What does it really cost you when you can’t get work done?

  • Think of all the time that leaders in the organization spend - not leading - but responding to immature griping. Reading over chat messages that should never have been sent. Walking the organization through a formal complaint process or investigation - when the original complaint could have been resolved ages ago with facilitated conversations. How much of the leader’s time is lost, and what does that cost the whole organization?

  • Ok, you STILL think the time lost is nothing… well, research says that 66% of people who experience any form of rudeness at work start to put less effort in. How much are you paying people who just aren’t trying anymore?

    • Think of the people who just aren’t all that engaged and give “meh” responses on surveys. They’re the ones I’m talking about losing time!

    • Sometimes conflicts don’t include a lot of obvious incivility - but trust me, people feel it, and they respond either in kind (tossing back insults and dismissive tones with the best of them) or they just start to do less.

• Duplication of effort

  • This is one I have seen with clients and experienced firsthand. I was that person who, when I couldn’t stand the person who had X responsibility, decided to just do X myself. It caused confusion among our organization’s supporters. It took my time and focus off of bigger goals. It did not work out well for the organization.

• Higher contractor costs

  • I’ve heard it before: One client’s employee got so stressed out over a conflict that they called out sick - at a critical time for a client deliverable. To make the client happy, the organization had to spend extra money on last-minute contractor help.

• Increasing absenteeism

  • When conflict stresses us out, it has real consequences for our health and our use of healthcare providers. If your health insurance costs have been increasing, consider taking the pulse of the organization’s employees - lots of unengaged people might be a sign that some folks are just not treating each other well.

If you’re curious to learn more, I recommend downloading the resource or checking out blog post 10 Signs of Conflict at Work.