Manage And Resolve Conflict Through Constructive Behavior

By Author: Maria
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Competing interests inevitably lead to conflict. This can be helpful up to a point if the potential conflict can be worked through amicably – it may even lead to a better outcome. If however, it begins to get out of hand, you might want to employ some conflict resolution strategies.

It is wise to take note of the warning signs of conflict escalation in order to prevent volatile situations from occurring. Remember unhealthy conflict negatively impacts productivity, morale, and ultimately results.

Improve Your Listening Skills

It is vital to understand fully what has caused tension in the first place. You need to hone your conflict resolution skills, one of which is learning to listen to each side. Managing several people’s views and opinions simultaneously and balancing competing demands and ambitions can be challenging. You need to allow individuals the opportunity to share their ideas and rationale and share valuable information with the others. By listening to each other you can then find common ground that will enable everyone ...
... involved to look for solutions to improve their organizational effectiveness.

While many of us are less skilled at handling conflict than we could be, it is not as challenging to negotiate a solution if you fully understand each person’s perspective and reasoning, highlight areas of commonality and work together towards a shared outcome.

Improve Your Observation Skills

Another important aspect is to pay close attention to body language - your own as well as that of the people involved. Body language might indicate: fear, interest, openness, anger, defensiveness or frustration. Paying attention to body language will give you a feel for the other person’s attitude and intent. It can help you break down barriers in order to generate options, and reach wise, efficient, and amicable resolutions. Conflict resolution strategies include highlighting what you can see in order to better connect with them. Phrases like “I can see you’re frustrated so help me understand your perspective” can be useful for paving the way to a solution.

Options are the key

Once you have listened to both or multiple perspectives, broken down barriers by acknowledging emotions and found some common ground, it’s time to brainstorm some options for a solution.

Many people are hindered by trying to find the holy grail of solutions but it maybe that there are many potential solutions or solutions that you haven’t considered of thought of that will fix the issue. The key is to brainstorm lots of potential options so that you can then, as a group, evaluate all of them based on objective criteria. This will lead to a fair and constructive outcome.
Conflict resolution skills employed well will lead to better, faster and more robust outcomes.