How to deal with conflicts at work is pretty scary if you don’t know what steps to take and what to look out for. Conflicts usually have anger, frustration, annoyance and other emotions flying between two or more parties and stepping into the middle of this takes some courage.

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As a manager it is vital that you manage conflicts at work carefully. Positive conflict can easily and quickly descend into disruptive, damaging, negative conflict if you are not able to manage conflicts within the team appropriately. 

I share 5 ways to deal with conflict at work, and take you through 5 steps to resolve conflicts in the workplace that are disruptive and emotionally charged.

In my view, not all conflict is bad. Heated discussions, constructive challenge, differences of opinion and airing different ideas and solutions can all be very productive – vital even for great team performance - if managed carefully. Know where the line is and constantly look out for individuals or teams crossing into negative conflict and take action immediately.

As a manager you have an important role as an impartial mediator to deal with conflicts within the team. You set the tone and behaviours in the team through your own actions and decisions. 

Many conflicts at work come about because individual or teams are competing for resources or have overlaps of responsibilities and goals. Managers and leaders can resolve conflicts at work before they even happen by taking action to remove overlaps and change operation or processes to minimise and remove reasons for conflict.

Conflicts at work often come about through behavioural problems or incompetent staff. Both increase the pressure and workload on others and/or make being at work less enjoyable. Resentment, anger and annoyance can quickly be created between individuals and teams, leading to open conflict. Tackle these areas to deal with conflicts in the workplace.

A key part of conflict management is to promote understanding between parties. Our emotions often get in the way of taking the time to look at the situation from the other party’s point of view. Understanding often removes the assumption that the other person is being difficult or creating conflict for personal reasons. Promoting understanding is a great way to deal with conflict in the workplace. 

When you have negative, disruptive conflict in a team or at work, there are 5 practical steps that you can take to resolve 95%+ of the conflict fairly quickly. Towards the end of the video, I take you through exactly what these steps are.

Take action quickly to resolve conflict at work.