Conflict Management
Conflict Management
Conflict is an inherent part of being human, but in a corporate setting it needs to be controlled. If a conflict within an organization is not cut off at its roots – and quickly – the effects could be disastrous. Not only will it create a division amongst your staff, but it will also have numerous indirect effects. Conflicts help in reducing productivity and create a non-unified front in the face of customers. No matter how well you think a conflict might be hidden from your public image, think again.
What you want to do is resolve the situation before it even becomes a conflict. As soon as you notice trouble brewing in the air, try to get to the heart of the matter. Get all the details you can about what caused the situation in the first place. Talk to everyone involved to get their side of the story. At this point, you don’t want to be making any judgments or quick resolution suggestions. That will only serve to further fuel the fires of discontent. At this stage, confine your actions to being an active listener.
The second important step in conflict management is bringing together everyone who is involved in the situation. If it’s only between one or two people, then there is no need to involve the entire staff. However, if the conflict is between a large group of people, then you will want to get together the entire team. Discuss the situation with everyone, giving everyone a fair chance to express their opinions.
At this point, see if you can eek out some sort of compromise. What are some potential solutions and what are the benefits of those to each of the players involved? Are some people willing to give up something in order to get what they want? Can some kind of mutual agreement come to pass? See what everybody’s single most important priority is – the one thing they are not willing to budge on – and work around those.
Remember that your job, as the boss, is to be an impartial mediator. You may have your own view as to who is right and wrong in the situation – you may even want to place the blame squarely on a certain person’s shoulders. After all, they might have wasted everyone’s time, including your own. But doing so, calling out one person, will do no good. Your staff needs to know that you are not willing to take sides, that your number one goal is to make everyone happy and create a healthy working environment.
Conflict management is no easy task. But do it right and do it smart and your business will prosper as a result.
Conflict Management - To learn more about this author, visit Bob Ready's Website.
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It doesn’t matter what business you’re in or how successfully you think you manage your employees. I guarantee you that at some point in your professional career, you’re going to experience conflict. It might not directly involve you, but if it involves anyone in your company, it’s going to impact you sooner or later. That is why every entrepreneur needs to learn conflict management – and sooner rather than later.
Conflict is an inherent part of being human, but in a corporate setting it needs to be controlled. If a conflict within an organization is not cut off at its roots – and quickly – the effects could be disastrous. Not only will it create a division amongst your staff, but it will also have numerous indirect effects. Conflicts help in reducing productivity and create a non-unified front in the face of customers. No matter how well you think a conflict might be hidden from your public image, think again.
What you want to do is resolve the situation before it even becomes a conflict. As soon as you notice trouble brewing in the air, try to get to the heart of the matter. Get all the details you can about what caused the situation in the first place. Talk to everyone involved to get their side of the story. At this point, you don’t want to be making any judgments or quick resolution suggestions. That will only serve to further fuel the fires of discontent. At this stage, confine your actions to being an active listener.
The second important step in conflict management is bringing together everyone who is involved in the situation. If it’s only between one or two people, then there is no need to involve the entire staff. However, if the conflict is between a large group of people, then you will want to get together the entire team. Discuss the situation with everyone, giving everyone a fair chance to express their opinions.
At this point, see if you can eek out some sort of compromise. What are some potential solutions and what are the benefits of those to each of the players involved? Are some people willing to give up something in order to get what they want? Can some kind of mutual agreement come to pass? See what everybody’s single most important priority is – the one thing they are not willing to budge on – and work around those.
Remember that your job, as the boss, is to be an impartial mediator. You may have your own view as to who is right and wrong in the situation – you may even want to place the blame squarely on a certain person’s shoulders. After all, they might have wasted everyone’s time, including your own. But doing so, calling out one person, will do no good. Your staff needs to know that you are not willing to take sides, that your number one goal is to make everyone happy and create a healthy working environment.
Conflict management is no easy task. But do it right and do it smart and your business will prosper as a result.
Conflict Management - To learn more about this author, visit Bob Ready's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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