Let’s face a reality in any workplace — conflict will happen. Differences of opinion, misunderstandings, miscommunications, personality, and resistance to change are a few of the issues we will face as we chart the pathway for our companies. If we do not address conflict, we will likely sink the ship. Of course it must be addressed in the proper manner.
A culture of respect is a necessity for working through differences of opinion. I once heard a funny little thing about opinions — that like bellybuttons, everyone has one. So let’s embrace the fact that not everyone is going to see things the same way we do. One of the most powerful things we can do is communicate our intention.
There is nothing you ask of your people that doesn’t have an intention behind it. Share that intention. When we share what we intend to have show up as a benefit of certain actions, we start to open minds to possibility and create engagement. Employee engagement starts with the employer engaging with the employees not the other way around!
When you are clear on your intentions you now have a beacon that as distractions arise, you can steer toward. When you clearly articulate this intention with others and as engagement grows, you have created a beacon for others to move toward as well. This clarity helps eliminate misunderstandings.
Self-awareness is also a key to being successful at solving conflict. Humans have very few ‘universal truths’ where something is true for all of us. The one we need most to be aware of is everyone want to be right. When we see this bias in ourselves (self-awareness) we can now take control of it, setting that desire aside momentarily so we can truly hear another’s perspective.
We need social skills or what are referred to as ‘soft-skills’ in order to be effective in reaching people especially when tension is running high.
Personality differences are best addressed by developing ourselves through education in understanding those differences in people, learning flexibility in how we approach others and better listening skills and listening practices. These are the foundational points of our coursework with leaders. Over the past decade we have seen countless conflicts resolved through application of knowledge and techniques that have enhanced the culture of our client companies.
When we reach out to understand a broader perspective through listening and civil discussion, we enhance our appeal to others as well achieve practical resolution to many divisive issues. This is the hard work of leaders — to connect with others at a level where everyone is given opportunity to speak and each party feels heard by the other. It takes practice and patience.
It’s never too late to make improvement so embrace the old axiom of ‘no time like the present’ and start moving down the pathway so you can be the one who’s driving!
