Welcome to episode 3 of our Conflict Management series.
In the previous two episodes, I went through 4 tips on how to manage conflict effectively
in the workplace.
Today we’re going to go through the last two tips.
Here is tip number five on how to manage conflict well.
Own it
Or said a little bit differently - Take responsibility for your part in the problem.
You’re not coming up with any ideas for the gala!
How can we make it a night to remember if you don’t get the creative juices flowing?
Yeh, I’m sorry, I’m having a bit of a mind blank.
Have you come up with anything?
Even if you’re convinced that your colleague is mainly at fault, there’s always a part
that you’ve had to play in creating that conflict or that problem.
Maybe you were a bit too harsh in your response.
Maybe you didn’t give your colleague enough time to get the work done, or maybe you just
used one exclamation mark too many in your email.
The point is, recognising that you’ve had a part to play in the current conflict, being
accountable and taking responsibility will create a space where, whoever you’re in
conflict with will also self-examine and take ownership for whatever it is that they need
to take ownership for.
Conflict management isn’t an opportunity for you to find ways of blaming your colleagues,
but it’s an opportunity to find a way to work together as a team.
Number 6: Focus on the future
Recently I’ve started to notice how much time we spend on looking at what should’ve
or could’ve been done differently.
And I’ve also started to notice that usually when these comments are made, they’re
particularly unhelpful.
Hello and welcome everybody to this very important conference that we have been planning for
over one year.
You should’ve put more money in the comms budget.
Now don’t get me wrong, it is helpful to talk about what should’ve and what could’ve
been done differently within a specific context.
For example, in a debrief.
The casually said, “you should’ve done this” or “you could’ve done this”
isn’t the same thing.
That kind of comment can sound more like an accusation rather than a constructive critique.
Are you still with me?
Here’s a very practical piece of advice.
Next time you feel the urge to talk about what should’ve or could’ve been done,
set up a meeting with your colleague and call it a debrief.
You can then spend 25% of that time looking at what should’ve or could’ve been done
better, and the rest of the meeting looking at how you can implement these solutions
in the future.
And that my friends brings us to the end of the conflict management series.
Can you think of any tips that we’ve missed?
Or anything that maybe helped you when you were in a conflictual situation?
Write them in the comments because we all need to improve in this particular skill.
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and if you’re looking for expert help specifically for English in the workplace,
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You should be able to see episodes 1 and 2 to my left here so if you haven’t watched them,
make sure you go and watch them now.
See you in our next series!
Bye!