How to Resolve Team Conflicts During Hard Times at Work

Conflicts are a common part of our lives, and they can occur for a variety of reasons as well as in many different places. Notably, the workplace can often witness conflicts between people – either amongst co-workers or between a co-worker and their superior.To make matters more complicated, conflicts tend to heighten during especially hard times at work, such as when a company is having financial troubles or navigating internal or external issues. But, while understandable, conflict can also lead to low morale and stilted productivity across the workforce. To help prevent or, at least, minimize this, you should have a few conflict resolution strategies in place.Read our guide to find out how you can resolve team conflicts effectively and proactively. 

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Conflict Resolution: Your 4-Step Plan 

While each disagreement will require a different strategy to approach and solve, there is a fundamental framework you can use to tackle conflict among your team. 

1. Acknowledge the Situation 

Perhaps the most crucial step in resolving a disagreement among colleagues is to recognize the conflict as it is taking place, instead of ignoring it. As we mentioned, conflict can become even more pronounced during difficult times – such as when some team members want to push management to purchase a .com domain for a British brand, while others want to buy domain name uk.

The early signs may not be clear, especially if the conflict is between two team members in a small setting, so understanding your team and its behaviors is vital to spotting the first red flags. 

They may come as physical cues, such as shrugging shoulders, directed laughing, or visible discomfort around certain colleagues, especially at stressful or tension-filled times. It may not be as easy to distinguish if you work in a remote setting, so be sure to have changes in tone of voice on your radar, too, as well as keeping an eye on how a person communicates via email. 

No matter your business setting, it’s important to create space to recognize these changes, so understanding what is workforce management in a call center, an office, or a remote team is crucial to be able to recognize this conflict.

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2.Create a Safe (and Equal) Space

Before discussing these signs of conflict, it’s important to create a space where all parties feel comfortable discussing their feelings, without judgment or fear of making matters worse. 

To keep things as equal and unbiased as possible, it might be best to talk to each team member separately, and then bring them to a meeting room together once you have heard from both sides. 

You must hear each side equally, without any unconscious bias impacting how you view the situation. Being impartial is crucial, so be sure not to place any blame until you have all of the information at hand. 

3.Define the Problem

Now that you have all the facts from all sides of the conflict, you can define where the issue has stemmed from. 

This can come down to a variety of factors. Amy Gallo, the author of the Harvard Business Review Guide to Managing Conflict at Work, outlines team conflicts stemming from four different areas:

• Status conflict: Disagreeing about who is in charge, stemming from unclear organizational rules or a “turf war” when the status of a project leader is challenged (to prevent this from occurring, you could implement a way that enables all your team members to provide feedback in real-time during a project, ensuring they are all heard and valued regardless of their status).
• Relationship conflict: When personal feelings are hurt and respect is damaged. 
• Task conflict: Conflict around what needs to be done to reach a goal, or even the goal itself.
• Process conflict: Based on how team members complete the task and differing work habits and approaches. 

By understanding which type of conflict you are facing, you can approach it with a solution that will resolve the issue that is both mutually accepted, and does not halt the progress of a project or deadline. 

4.Work on a Solution

The most important part of conflict resolution is concluding the incident with a mutually beneficial solution. In instances of workplace bullying or harassment, this may be simpler to do, with the guilty party disciplined according to your HR guidelines. 

However, if this is an instance of differing working methods or clashing personalities, it can be harder to determine. 

For example, if the conflict stemmed from poor communication among team members, it may be a good idea to encourage collaborative work behaviors. This may be translated into practice by implementing something as simple as collaborative video editing software. 

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It’s important to note that not all conflicts will require a large solution; in some instances, a discussion outlining the situation and the consequences of certain behaviors will help to show all parties that their actions have created a negative result and hopefully lead to acknowledgment, thus a conclusion. 

Another solution may mean recognizing different working habits and finding a way that allows them to thrive in one process. Agile transformation can make this possible, ensuring flexibility for team members and the channels to communicate in a way that suits them, either in a booked meeting room or on a video call. 

Everyone works in different ways, so you must create space for every team member to work in a way that is most efficient for them and that doesn't outline their differences. This is even more common if your organization operates across the globe. If you have team members working in Anguilla, on a domain ai, they will have a different working pattern to your London team: it's human nature.

Coming to a conclusion where each team member is respected, seen, and valued is crucial. Restoring that value can be a big part of how you conclude, as without it, the problem may reoccur later down the line. 

Moving Forward

As important as it is to find a solution that ensures all team members walk away satisfied, it’s just as crucial to ensure your solutions are strong enough to eliminate the issue arising later down the line. 

To this effect, one element is vital: consistent communication. Not only does this apply to the parties involved in the conflict, but to other members of your team, too.

Only by resolving issues can your team grow stronger, and by talking about conflict and how to handle it in a healthy and professional manner can you help to prevent these problems from escalating.