In every workplace there is a possibility of conflict to appear purposely or not and sometimes it is unavoidable. It is also possible for a conflict to occur in a remote environment. Handling dispute is not a pleasant thing to do especially when you are leading your team while running your business. The main important thing is not about who to blame but how to deal with it effectively and prevent for it to happen again in the future. 

Workplace conflict, what is it?

When to or more people work together within the same environment remotely or closely, it is possible to have disagreement that lead to conflict. The conflict in the workplace can be actual or perceived. He causes of workplace conflict can include miscommunication, unclear expectation, lack of teamwork, workplace stress or burnout, and many more reasons. 

How to deal with workplace conflict effectively and properly?

Prevent them from happening

It is best to prevent conflict for ever happen in the first place. You can make proactive attempt to do so by identifying areas that have higher potential for conflict to arise. At least, you can lessen or minimize the damage if you already made an attempt to prevent it. Find out the natural tension in your workplace and try to eliminate or minimize it. 

Establish clear policies

Make sure that you expect certain behavior from your employees and make them understand what lines they should not cross. Let them know what constitutes acceptable workplace behavior and what doesn’t so they know what they are expected of. If you have remote work setting, make sure to also create a remote-work plan that establish expectations for remote workplace behavior. Make sure all your policies are regularly enforced. 

Establish clear, open communication

Create working environment that encourages transparency and clear communication. Conflict is unavoidable sometimes but it can be solved with open communication. If communication is unclear, it is hard to find the right solution to deal with the conflict. So, set an example of how to build clear communication within your workplace. 

Be mindful with your timing

Don’t let workplace conflict linger for too long because it can spiral into bigger mess. Conflict should be address immediately but make sure to know your timing. Make sure to deal with it when the temper is no longer at its highest. Try to speak with the people individually before talking with a group of employees who are affected. It will be hard to talk when the other person is still upset because they tend to think irrationally. 

Negative impacts of workplace conflict

Conflict in workplace has more negative impacts than positive ones. More often than not, workplace conflict affect workers negatively such as feeling stress, depressed, anxious, lose confident, and even lose motivation. You may see how employees who are involved in a conflict often left with lower performance and productivity. Of course, conflict workplace may also have positive impact especially for company growth. However, it is bad for company culture in the long run if left unmanaged.