EP 926 – Controlling Conflict

April celebrates Conflict Awareness Month.

Celebrates sounds like a funny word to use when we are talking about conflict, but there are benefits to conflict including:

Becoming aware of issues within your team

Encouraging change in the way things are done

Stimulating creativity and bonding as you work to solve the conflict

And Promoting decision-making.

Conflict becomes difficult to manage when personalities hinder the process.

So Here are today’s Hot Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Conflict Awareness Month:

Understanding why some team members become more difficult or negative, and when they are more likely to act that way, can prevent that build up of tension from happening, that may prevent the team from productively solving the conflict.

So why are people difficult?

For some, negative attitudes and behaviours are expressed when they are stressed out and just don’t have the energy to use better communication skills, judgment and manners.

Our goal is to stop rewarding these irritating behaviours. To do this, we must understand what employees expect to gain from being so difficult. Some want to feel more in control. Some want to feel important and listened to, and some want to avoid outright conflict, but will act out their annoyance or disagreement through other negative behaviours. By finding the strategies to meet their needs and lower their stress, they may be better able to focus on solving the conflict.

The difficulty behind these attitudes and behaviours is that they are highly “toxic.” It is important that we practise good self-care so that our stress doesn’t add more negativity to the situation.

Want to find more strategies to coping with stress and dealing with conflict? Check out my website at worksmartlivesmart.com