You are on page 1of 7

Reduce Conflict, Increase Productivity

July 22, 2009 by Scott Verrette

When discussing conflict in the workplace it is quite likely that the images that come to
mind are of harsh glares, voices raised in anger and slamming doors. These are the classic
tell-tale signs of active disagreement and open hostility in the workplace. However, it’s
important to note that these tend to be situation-specific and momentary in nature.

In reality, a far more pervasive, destructive and less easily detected form of conflict might
be doing damage to the morale and productivity of your organization – constant, low-
level discord which can take many forms, from bickering and sniping to passive-
aggressive avoidance behaviors.

A good analogy might be the electrical system in your home. An occasional major
argument can be thought of as a burned out bulb – occurring periodically in a particular
room of the house and quickly resolved. Meanwhile, incessant low-grade conflict can be
seen as a short circuit in your wiring that goes undetected while gradually draining vast
amounts of energy and efficiency from every appliance in your entire home.

The elements of a productive “well wired” work environment include civility, mutual
respect, high morale, clarity of role/purpose and optimism about the overall direction of
the organization. Unfortunately, each of these can be easily eroded by the widespread,
“under the radar” daily misunderstandings and related squabbles associated with the
stressful economic times we currently are experiencing. And, as an elevated sense of
uncertainty and insecurity creeps into our collective psyche, the conditions are ripe for
interpersonal conflict to rise as well.

The good news is that as a leader you possess the ability to impact each of these
environmental elements. Equally important, there are simple tools and techniques that
can be utilized by your employees at all levels to help circumvent and diffuse these
conflict situations.

Key steps you as a leader can take to reduce conflict include:

 Be empathetic and acknowledge the stress being felt by your employees – this provides
an important sense of “permission” for people to openly disclose what they are feeling.
Not needing to keep those feelings bottled up provides your employees with greater
emotional bandwidth when facing the conflict triggers that pop up during interpersonal
interactions.
 Be transparent about the stress you personally are experiencing – your honesty and
authenticity will go a long way toward building others’ trust in you and loyalty to the
organization.
 Convey a truthful yet optimistic vision for the future of the organization – don’t
“sugar coat” the problems but remain focused on the opportunities and solutions.
 Express confidence in the ability of the workforce to overcome these challenges in a
professional and respectful manner – set an example for others to live up to.
 Reiterate organizational values around treating one another with respect under any
and all circumstances – this includes co-workers, customers and other strategic business
partners. The primary reason that most employees leave their jobs AND that most
customers take their business elsewhere has to do with negative interpersonal
experiences.
 Introduce the concept that it is acceptable to “agree to disagree” – this helps avoid
emotional stand-offs and the productivity paralysis that can ensue.
 Foster the notion that when a disagreement arises “being right” is far less important
than getting something accomplished – “we all succeed or fail together.”
 Encourage people to take advantage of available support resources – Human
Resources, Employee Assistance Programs, etc.

Key techniques your employees can utilize to help reduce and manage conflict include:

 Get in touch with your feelings and the circumstances causing them before reacting in
a conflict situation.
 Take a few deep breaths, go for a short walk or find some other way to cool down and
gain some emotional balance before responding.
 Remind yourself of the qualities you value in the other person and the importance you
place on maintaining a good working relationship with them. Then, from that broader
perspective, ask yourself if it is more important to be “right” or if it is preferable to
maintain forward progress.
 Practice shifting away from “powerless” victim language (e.g. He made me so mad
when…) to “empowered” language (e.g. I’m feeling angry because….). By doing so you
put yourself in a position to change how you feel about the situation and the options
available to you for resolving it.
 When working through a conflict situation ensure that you allow time for you and the
other person each to “vent” your respective frustrations and viewpoints without
interruption. Then, be willing to “own” that which is accurate and true about the other
person’s perspective and look for common ground from which to move forward.
 Remain open to the possibility that there might be more than one “right answer” and
that there are many paths that can lead to the same desired destination.

Always remember, you seldom have control over what happens to you but you always
have absolute control over how you choose to react.
January 07, 2008
Five Sources of Interpersonal Conflict in the Workplace – Part IV – Low Empathetic
Understanding

Thus far, we have shared insights on three sources of interpersonal employee conflict in
the workplace. They are:

*
Behavioral differences
*
A behavioral pattern we call "Job-Me" conflict
*
Values differences

The fourth cause of interpersonal employee conflict is caused by a lack of emotional


intelligence or social “radar” called “Empathetic Understanding”.

This particular cause of interpersonal employee conflict can be the most difficult to
identify and overcome, but it is without a doubt a cause of many interpersonal conflicts in
the workplace.

You’ve seen it before… We have all worked with a colleague who seemed to always
have their foot in their mouth. They said the wrong things at the wrong times and didn’t
seem to care or realize that they upset someone else. While it may have been a
behavioral tendency, it may well have been a result of low emotional intelligence.

Quite literally - some people have a short or long-term inability to understand how others
are feeling and therefore are more likely to say or do something offensive – therefore
creating interpersonal conflict. Again… The cause of the lack of emotional intelligence
may be short or long-term.

Clearly, if there is a short or long-term employee conflict, it may well be due to one of
the two parties having a reduced ability to empathize or understand how the other person
is feeling. This may lead to hurt feelings, and over time, deep conflict that may
dramatically reduce productivity and employee morale.

To be honest… If there is a lack of emotional intelligence on the part of an employee or


employees, you will have your work cut out for you. This is especially the case if the
emotional intelligence issue is long-term.

What can you do? There is a proactive approach to understanding existing and future
team members' ability to relate with one another. This proactive approach is to consider
specialized personality profiling. Why do I say “specialized”? Because traditional
behavior profile instruments like DISC or Myers Briggs don’t identify how a person
views or values themselves or their world.
At The Rainmaker Group we use a very powerful combination of psychometric profile
instruments, sometimes referred to as personality tests, to help identify a person’s
Behaviors, Values, and Personal Attributes. Our “Personal Attribute” profile instrument
is based on the work of Dr. Robert Hartman. Our Hartman Value Profile Instrument is
quite sensitive to understanding how people view themselves and their world.

Give us a call at 866-988-RAIN (7246) if you would like to see a sample.

An interesting case in point… Recently a client had an applicant with a really good
background but a poor Empathetic Understanding profile. In fact, the Hartman Value
Assessment indicated that this individual's entire “world view” wasn’t looking
particularly good. During the interview our client learned that the candidate had recently
been in a car accident and that it was the other driver’s fault. To make matters even
worse the other driver was drunk and didn’t have insurance. It is very likely that this
person’s low emotional intelligence is temporary and will fade as the emotional trauma
from the accident fades. This is an example of a “short-term” emotional intelligence
issue.

Message… Just because someone appears to have low emotional intelligence doesn’t
mean it is a permanent issue. When we do see issues related to short-term emotional
intelligence problems – we generally recommend EAP (employee assistance programs)
or counseling. Sometimes simply allowing time to pass can be beneficial.

If you are dealing with a long-term emotional intelligence issue, the best course of action
may be to consider moving the “difficult” person into a role that diminishes their
interaction with others (working from home may be an option). If this isn’t possible, then
your next best alternative may be to document the behavior violations and move towards
dismissal if the problem is severe enough. Again, by using powerful profile assessments
such as the Hartman Value Profile, you can pinpoint the issue to the person(s) and deal
with it more effectively from there.

A word of caution - we do not advocate using personality profile instruments as a


primary hiring tool. First of all, it’s not legal to do so and secondly it is morally wrong.
However, when powerful assessment instruments such as the Hartman Value Profile are
used appropriately, they can be instrumental in helping to “peel the onion” to understand
the root sources that drive human behavior.

If you would like more information about the Hartman Value Profile use by The
Rainmaker Group, or would like to speak with someone about reducing interpersonal
conflict in your organization, please call today. We're here to help!

Miss any part of our five part series on interpersonal conflict? Click the links below to
read any articles you may have missed!

* Part I - Behavioral differences


* Part II - Job-Me conflict
* Part III - Values Conflict

Now go Maximize Possibility!

How to Manage Interpersonal Conflict


X

Steve Sparkes
Steve Sparkes started writing professionally in 1982. He was a journalist and
photographer for "The New York Waste" magazine for a decade. Sparkes has a diploma
of art and design and a Bachelor of Arts in history of art from the South-East Essex
School of Art. He also has a Master of Arts in photography from the London School of
Printing and Graphic Arts.
By Steve Sparkes, eHow Contributor

updated: December 01, 2010

Don't let the participants internalize their anger --


encourage discussion.

The 1991 book, " Interpersonal Conflict," says that interpersonal conflict is caused when
two people who are dependent on each other (work colleagues, partners or friends) come
to view their individual goals as being different and in opposition to the other.
Resolution, therefore, involves discussion to establish where common interests lie. Rather
than internalizing resentment, which can cause larger problems, the two people confront
the conflict, talk it through and identify common goals.

Difficulty:
Moderately Challenging
Instructions
1.
o 1

Sit the parties down to discuss the issues causing the conflict. Listen to
both sides and encourage both parties to listen to each other.

o 2

Look at areas where the participants agree and other areas where they can
compromise. Avoid letting the discussion turn into an argument with a win
or lose mentality or an attack on personalities. If there is a perceived or
real difference in power between the two parties, get them to put it aside
and discuss their problems as equals. This way neither party will come out
of the discussion feeling impotent and rail-roaded. Show and encourage
empathy in the position of each participant.

o 3

Agree to plan with both parties going forward. Both should be involved as
much as possible in creating and implementing the plan. Re-evaluate
frequently to see how things are progressing. Sit down to discuss any
further issues that have arisen and how well the existing plan is working.
Respect all opinions equally and encourage participants to do the same. Be
prepared to change tactics if the initial plan does not seem to be working.

• Emotional Supportwww.mycontainer.org

Where people support other people with personal problems and issues

• ICH Internationalwww.ich-international.ca

Facilitation, Mediation, Training Coaching, Leadership, Speaking

• Socionics Forumwww.the16types.info

Learn about personality types and relationships!

• Interpersonal Relationswww.Questia.com

Online books, journals for academic research, plus bibliography tools.

Ads by Google
Tips & Warnings
• A good way to encourage participants to listen to others properly is to get each
person to summarize what the other said. Then get that person to confirm or
clarify the other's perception of what he initially said. Sometimes this can
highlight and eliminate untrue assumptions about motives and unspoken goals
that were behind the conflict in the first place.
• Do not let disagreements escalate into physical attacks. If you think the parties
cannot control their emotions well enough to discuss their difficulties, avoid
instigating a confrontation. Involve a professional mediator to deal with the
problem instead.

References
• Allyn & Bacon: Interpersonal Conflict
• Positive Conflicts: Escalation of Interpersonal Conflict
• Slide Share: Interpersonal - Managing Conflict
• Riedmiller: Conflict Article

• Oppenheim Bernhard/Digital Vision/Getty Images

• Print
• Email
• Share

Read Next Article

Comments

Read more: How to Manage Interpersonal Conflict | eHow.com


http://www.ehow.com/how_7430638_manage-interpersonal-
conflict.html#ixzz1I3xbvWSS

You might also like