3 WAYS SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE ELIMINATE CONFLICT

Within any given environment, a workplace or a management team, conflict is almost inevitable. This is usually owned to variation in perspectives of viewing situations among the people, say, working together as a team. It is true that some people are naturally toxic, always being the agent of misunderstanding anywhere they go, but often time, conflict arises due to unwillingness to compromise, or at least, meet at a mid-point.

In companies, for instance, where conflicts are inevitable; it is important for a person in a leadership position or someone aspiring to be, to know how to resolve conflicts in order to ensure the progress of such organization. Learning conflict resolution among staffs will improve working relationships, which in turn, increases the company’s productivity.

There are various ways used by people to resolve conflicts between two people or among a group. This includes putting both parties in a competition to get the best result, making both parties collaborate to make one idea a golden reality, making a decision that leaves both parties partly happy and partly unhappy, and so on.

Here, we look at conflict resolution as done by successful people:

Identification of conflict source

Any leader tasked with resolving conflict among several people will first identify the cause of the conflict. This is easily achieved by listening to various parties’ side of the story. Tension may rise in the process, but with an assurance that everyone gets to tell his/her story, one will determine the source of the conflict and quickly envisage an appropriate way to tackle the issue.

Passing a premature judgement before getting the facts right isn’t what any successful leader would do – you’d be painted as bias. Take time to study the atmosphere. Identify what each person wants and use this to decide the best action to take.

Focus on solution

Successful people focus more on solution than the problem. Yes, problem identification is important to determine the best solution but, successful leaders are solution-minded individuals. They quickly want to soothe a toxic atmosphere.

Although you listen to several sides of the conflict, you’re not particularly bothered about the problem as you are with finding a suitable solution. If as a leader, you discover that two people in conflict simply don’t agree with either’s way of getting a project done, you can create a mini competition to test out their strategies, making them know aforehand how you intend to pick a winner and use the winner’s strategy in the main project.

No overreaction

Rarely will you see a successful person overreact to a situation, even when such situation is not in his/her favor. Overreacting only amplifies the conflict level and make resolution more difficult. They know when to walk away from an argument; they know when a conflict is best left to lie for a while before readdressing it.

It is important to always keep your cool when in a conflicting situation. Don’t boil inside. You will be able to make a level-headed decision when you keep your calm.