Where two or more people are, there can never lack a conflict. A recent productivity study unveiled that 80% of company employees get into conflicts with each other. Depending on the gravity of the conflict, they could waste from 2 hours to 4 hours every week engaging in such conflicts. This is time that would have otherwise been used effectively to benefit the company. When converted to dollars, the profit/loss associated with such time wastage amounts to over $ 300 Billion annually.
Gitnux’s head of HR was interviewed regarding the matter and had a mix of subject matter insights. “The concern for leadership is not whether the employees can avoid conflicting with each other, but rather how to resolve effectively,” she argues.
When managed properly, morale and productivity could improve by over 73% if proper conflict resolution was adopted. Workplace conflict is an inherent business component since people have different characters, views, passions, cognitive processes, and principles. But it doesn’t mean your business has to take the hit every time your employees conflict. In reality, leaders with dispute-resolution abilities resolve conflicts before they escalate.
Find ways to prevent disputes from negatively affecting the company and its employees financially, emotionally, and culturally. Learn the traits that all effective leaders must possess to manage conflict and several techniques for easily handling tense situations or conflicts.
Some of the conflict resolution qualities leaders should have include;
Patience
Understand that the employees might not be immediately comfortable revealing their issues to you. To solve the conflict, you need to get both sides’ perspectives, which might take a while. Don’t threaten the conflicting parties to reveal the issue, even when you think too much time has already been spent on the issue.
Curiosity
A good leader always wants to know what’s happening in the company and, more so, what the employees are doing. If you realize certain people are talking to each other sarcastically or rudely, don’t turn a blind eye. Curiously ask what they meant and if you realize signs of conflict, find ways to solve the problem.
Emotional Intelligence
Self-awareness, social intelligence, self-management, and relationship-building are the quadrants that make up emotional intelligence (EI). Relationships fail because people lack expertise in these specific areas, particularly when there is a dispute. According to Harvard Business School, People deficient in emotional intelligence are unaware of the impact of their comments, behaviors, and ideas on other people. Due to this, they cannot maintain emotional stability in delicate situations that call for character traits that alleviate conflict rather than spark it. Emotional intelligence is a critical ability that leaders cannot ignore and working on self-development might help heighten emotional intelligence.
