When you gather a group of different people, there will eventually be conflict. Every workplace will eventually experience it, and although it may seem negative, conflict can be a positive thing, particularly if you shift the focus to positive interactions.
How a team deals with workplace conflict when it occurs can make all the difference in creating a healthy organizational culture. Instead of letting conflict tear employees apart, it can help them thrive and come together.
What Does a Positive Workplace Culture Look Like?
A healthy workplace needs to handle conflict quickly and efficiently. When there is a lot of unresolved conflict, the workplace becomes toxic. Employees will fight over resources or engage in unproductive behavior because they don’t respect each other.
However, when a workplace doesn’t have any conflict, it could be a sign of avoidance, which isn’t a good thing. Team members may be afraid or unwilling to speak up out of fear of incurring negative consequences. This can also keep everyone from working together as a team.
Somewhere in the middle of those two extremes is where a positive organizational culture exists. Workplace conflict resolution training is the way to achieve this balance.
Building Positive Organizational Culture Using Conflict Resolution Strategies
Achieving a healthy corporate culture with conflict resolution works best when it starts with management and involves all workers pulling together constructively. Cultivating a healthy respect for conflict and ways to resolve it will put the entire organization in the right direction.
A positive workplace culture using conflict resolution invites each employee to air their disagreements and offer suggestions for changes. Differences in opinions can open up ways to discuss and resolve issues. When each person feels like they are being heard, it can help the organization grow.
Setting an example of healthy conflict resolution is the key to having it trickle down to all of the employees. Once it is established, others will follow suit.
Work with a Specialist
When you need conflict resolution to improve your corporate landscape, it makes sense to work with a conflict resolution specialist. They can provide an unbiased professional opinion about what they observe and help tailor their tactics to your organization.
Ask Employees for Feedback and Listen
Open the door for employees to provide feedback about current issues in a calm environment. Be sure that you listen to what they say regarding the issue and their resolution suggestions. It’s important to be open to criticism as the common goal should be to get on the same page.
Create Win-Win Solutions
When one person or team gets their way all the time, it can cause a hostile work environment. However, if you try to find solutions that help everyone win, it can boost team morale and bring everyone closer.
Keep Interpersonal Conflicts Private
In some situations, employees may not get along due to interpersonal conflicts. Resolving these types of issues should be done privately as involving others may result in them taking sides.
Building a workplace that has a positive culture through conflict resolution is not something that happens overnight. It takes time as trust is cultivated and employees open up. Teams that function at their best need to start at square one and look objectively at what needs to change, share individual insights on solutions, and join forces for the greater good of the organization. It’s worth the time you invest as it will soon increase creativity and productivity without the constraints that previously held each employee back.
