While we all like to think that our workplace is ideal and that issues don’t arise, but unfortunately the reality is that sometimes they do.
When it happens, it’s good to know how to handle it through conflict resolution.
You need to make sure that you understand how the situation came to be.
Having a conflict resolution plan will enable you to act quickly, identify the issue and prevent it from happening in the future. To help, we’ve got some tips on what conflict resolution steps you can use.
Conflict resolution steps
There are a number of steps that you’ll need to take when it comes to reaching a conflict resolution conclusion:
Discover the source of conflict
To start with, you’ll need to discover how the conflict originated and what actions were taken during it. With this, it’s important to get all the details and understand what happened and why.
Remember, it’s good to talk
Talk with all parties involved and even third parties who witnessed or were aware of the event. It’s important to be able to discover the specifics of the conflict whilst remaining neutral.
Listen actively and let everyone have their say
During your discussions, make sure that you take the time to actively listen to all parties. Give them plenty of time and space to speak freely, openly and privately. If they have the confidence to talk then they will inform you of everything from their end.
Investigate
Once you have spoken to all parties involved, it is then important to take time to investigate the entire situation to make sure you have all angles covered. You need to make sure that you understand how the situation came to be, what transpired and how to stop it from happening again moving forward.
Agree on the best solution and responsibilities
Once you have established what happened and why, it’s important that you arrange a strategy that not only suits all parties but is fair.
One part of this process that you must ensure is made clear is any responsibilities or behaviour changes that must be actioned moving forward. This makes sure that everyone is clear on the outcome of the conflict resolution and can adjust behaviour or attitude accordingly.
Evaluate and look at preventative strategies for the future
During your conflict resolution process, you’ll need to consider how to prevent a similar situation from happening in the future. Creating a preventative strategy will lessen the risk of conflict impacting the workplace and allow you to create a great environment to move forward.
