5 Golden Rules to Abide by When Handling Conflict in Your Team

1. Take every grievance seriously.

If your employee is upset to the point that he or she has to come to you with the problem, that is reason enough for you to hear them out. He or she may be looking for someone to vent their frustrations on and look for a solution. Your role is to help assess the situation and see how best to resolve the issue.

 2. Encourage both parties to resolve the issue on their own.

Everyone is a grown-up at the office, hence convey your expectations of your employees acting as adults. Encourage them to discuss and come up with possible ways of reaching a compromise or agreement without your intervention.

 3. Prevent the conflict from becoming a show

There is no need to involve everyone in resolving a conflict, hence keep the issues under wrap and privy only to those who needs to be aware of the matter. If the issue is something that is serious enough for your employees to seek your help on, you need to be respectful of the seriousness of the situation.

 4. Do not allow the conflict resolution to become a verbal showdown

Lay the rules upfront when both parties come together in an effort to resolve conflict in a face to face setting. As the manager, intervene appropriately when you sense that the conversation is going in the direction of verbal duels. Explain that you are there to discuss behaviours and not personality differences.

 5. Do not bear grudges

Do not allow conflicts and disagreements to define who wins or loses in the workplace. Rather, it is about working towards a mutual agreement and using it as an experience to build trust and understanding.