From Frustration to Innovation
Conflict at work
It happens frequently, probably daily in most workplaces. A recent study says that people spend, on average, 4 hours per week dealing with conflict.
That adds up to over $4 billion a year in hours we pay people, just to deal with conflict. Not necessarily to resolve it!
One of the most unsettling aspects of conflict at work is the uncertainty. Especially if you manage a person who has spent time in a volatile workplace, or worked for a very disorganized or emotional manager, the employee may carry a lot of baggage from those experiences into working for you.
If you’re reading this blog, you may expect me to start extolling the virtues of mediation for situations like this! Of course mediation can be very helpful for workplace disputes. But it’s not always necessary, and sometimes it’s not welcome - especially if your employee prefers avoiding conflict.
If they’re avoiding conflict, how can you even be sure there IS a conflict?
I’ve written about signs of conflict before. And they aren’t foolproof!
Frustration
Part of what can be frustrating as a leader is being uncertain as to why your employees are behaving a certain way - not making goals, working slower, being less creative. There may be quantifiable changes, or you just have a feeling.
How do you get to the root cause without putting someone on the spot?
This is exactly the kind of thing I help clients with, through my new Conflict Consulting service.
Imagine
Imagine entering an office or online meeting:
With people genuinely happy to be there,
Who are interested in the topic,
And who feel safe and free to brainstorm and disagree respectfully.
Imagine the innovation! When employees know they can safely offer different opinions and new ideas that will be met with curiosity, they are so much more likely to actually do that. Work cultures that welcome disagreements and new ideas can see:
Quicker product development times,
Higher customer service ratings,
More sales,
A lower annual turnover rate, and
Positive brand recognition and engagement across all your social channels.
And, just to be real for a moment - there are many situations in which hardworking employees only need the safety to share what they need - like more time before that internal deadline because the current project is intense!
Let’s face it: Empathetic leaders are still human! You get stressed out, and that’s when the bad behavior starts. You inadvertently dismiss an idea instead of hearing it out. You multitask and completely miss the crux of what’s being said.
Conflict Consulting
Instead of trying to be the perfect leader on your own, consider hiring a Conflict Consultant.
Conflict Consultants are on-call conflict professionals who serve as a sounding board and advisor. We can help you determine:
Whether a particular behavior is likely to be the result of conflict or something else;
What kinds of curiosity-focused, open-ended questions might help a particular employee to open up about what’s going on;
And, what the best next steps might be in any conflict situation.
Imagine being faced with a tough conversation and being able to just pick up the phone and call someone to talk it out - someone who is external to the organization, keeps everything* you share confidentially, and who is highly skilled at resolving conflict.
Hiring a Conflict Consultant can mean:
Having a skilled professional on call for when you need it;
Providing another resource to your team to help them manage bickering or arguments;
Getting a first draft policy on how your organization handles conflict, or having such a policy reviewed;
Informing team members about how to recognize signs of conflict and approach hard conversations;
Increasing overall levels of empathy throughout the whole organization - simply as a result of having people on staff experience empathy from a skilled professional.
Schedule a call with me now and learn more about how we do Conflict Consulting at CM&F.
*I follow mediation guidelines around ethics. Information about violence, threats of violence, or criminal activity will not remain confidential.