Employee recognition and rewards are important for motivating and retaining your team members. However, they can also be a source of conflict if they are perceived as unfair, inconsistent, or biased. How can you address these conflicts and foster a positive and collaborative work environment? Here are some tips to help you.
Before you intervene in a conflict related to employee recognition and rewards, it is important to understand the root cause and the impact of the issue. To do this, ask yourself questions such as what are the criteria and process for giving recognition and rewards, how are they communicated and implemented, and how do the employees feel about them. Additionally, consider how the conflict affects their performance, relationships, and morale. By assessing the situation, you can determine what gaps, misunderstandings, and expectations need to be addressed.
One of the best ways to make employees feel valued, especially in mental health is to allow for patients to express their opinions. This can be as simple as creating a white board with employee names and allowing patients to contribute sticky notes of appreciation to employees. If there needs to be a little more monitoring of the comments, there is always the comment box approach and then posting the positive comments of patients so other employees can see. Creating an employee of the month and year only creates a sense of resentment especially when employees are the ones choosing the nominated and elected individuals.
One of the key skills for conflict management is active listening. You need to listen to both sides of the conflict with an open mind and empathize with their feelings and perspectives. Avoid making assumptions, judgments, or accusations. Instead, ask open-ended questions, paraphrase what they say, and acknowledge their emotions. By listening to both sides, you can show respect, build trust, and clarify the issues.
One of the most important things to recognize in conflict resolution is that you need to base your assessment on facts as opposed to opinions. Even in incident reports, explanations from friends and coworkers, and complaint forms you will always find a hint of bias. Therefore, listening to both sides of the story and then assessing which intervention is best appropriate is the key to creating an inviting environment which is essential to conflict resolution.
After listening to both sides, you need to find common ground and align them with the organizational goals and values. You can do this by highlighting the positive aspects of their work, acknowledging their contributions, and emphasizing their shared interests and objectives. You can also use positive feedback and appreciation to reinforce their strengths and achievements. By finding common ground, you can reduce tension, increase cooperation, and create a win-win situation.
The best way to find something in common with another individual is to listen to them. Whether it is something that they are wearing you find unique or something that they are saying that you can relate to. Self disclosing a little bit about yourself can significantly increase rapport with patients/clients because it allows them to feel a sense of validation. If a professional such as yourself can make those mistakes, then maybe it isn't so debilitating after all. Remember, your words can impact people on many different levels both negatively and positively. Ultimately you have the ability to really change someone's life for the better, or cause more trauma and negativity directed towards health care professionals.
Once you have found common ground, you need to negotiate a solution that is acceptable and fair for both parties. You can do this by brainstorming ideas, evaluating options, and agreeing on criteria and actions. You can also involve the employees in designing and implementing the recognition and rewards system, so that they feel more engaged and valued. By negotiating a solution, you can resolve the conflict, improve the situation, and prevent future issues.
Another important thing to remember is to assess our own personal biases. Whether that being in someone's personality, experiences in life, or the situation in general. Often times, even mental health and medical professionals are guilty of not recognizing bias due to life experiences when treating patients, clients or situations with coworkers. This can make professionals easily susceptible to triangulation, staff splitting, and client favoritism.
After negotiating a solution, you need to monitor and follow up on the progress and outcomes. You can do this by setting deadlines, milestones, and indicators, and checking in regularly with the employees. You can also solicit feedback, measure satisfaction, and celebrate successes. By monitoring and following up, you can ensure accountability, transparency, and consistency.
Finally, you need to learn and improve from the conflict and the resolution process. You can do this by reflecting on what went well and what could be improved, and applying the lessons learned to your future actions. You can also share your insights and best practices with others, and update your policies and procedures accordingly. By learning and improving, you can enhance your conflict management skills, your recognition and rewards system, and your team culture.
As with all conflict management, prevention is preferable to cure. Any reward and recognition programme needs to be fully reviewed and tested before being implemented. The processes should be open and transparent, and everyone should have the ability to benefit from it. Get it right from the start and the need for conflict resolution is significantly reduced.
Here’s something else to consider Example 1 Have a talk with coleagues during your pause/meal and start a theme on recent recognition and rewards. Listen to what they have to say. Example 2 Ask a coleague (from a different department or a company) to have a talk with employees with the aim to start a talk on a theme on recent recognition and rewards. Employees may be restrained to talk about it with you.