What do you do if your organization resists conflict resolution?

Demonstrate your own willingness to embrace change and adaptability. Show your team that you're not just imposing new ideas but actively participating in the transformation process.

Organize structured sessions to identify underlying reasons for resistance. Encourage open discussion to uncover fears, doubts, and past experiences hindering progress.

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Be proactive, not reactive. Begin by engaging in open dialogue to understand resistance points. Use active listening to gather insights from all levels within the organization. Employ surveys or anonymous feedback mechanisms (regularly) to identify underlying issues without attributing blame. Analyze patterns in feedback to assess the root cause, considering organizational culture, communication barriers, leadership styles, and past conflict resolution outcomes. Develop a plan addressing these root causes with tailored strategies, such as training on conflict resolution, improving internal communication, and fostering a culture of transparency and trust.

Before looking at others, if you are the leader, look at what have you done to lead by example. Look internally first. What have YOU done to create this issue in the first place? Before you go & say that you didn’t cause this, take a deep breath & imagine for a moment that you did. Where did it come from? Find the issue that you have the most control over solving first: you. Then you can look at things like environment, what set them up to be resistant? Start macro before micro. Resistance comes from the culture & takes time to fix. It is not always just the people. If you ask them directly why they are resistant, they may only know what’s on the surface. Dig deeper & make it a priority in the org if you want it to change.

Create an environment where team members feel safe to express their thoughts and opinions without fear of judgment. Encourage open dialogue and constructive feedback to cultivate trust and collaboration.

Being a leader has much to do with building trust and trust is key in conflict resolution & problem solving. By nature, people want to be heard. Actively listen to them will possibly make them feel safer and foster open-communication. Here, you have opportunity to dig deeper and understand what's really in it. It's a fact that they are all in the same team, working for a common vision. Remembering this, they will be more cooperative, since they feel they are in a healthy culture.

Open, transparent communication channels are essential for fostering trust within your team. Implement regular check-ins, feedback sessions, and forums where team members can express their concerns and provide input.

Create an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their opinions and concerns without fear of judgment or reprisal.

Trust is a two way street - you often gain trust by giving trust. To help build trust, I recommend practicing the law of reciprocity-- people are more likely to reciprocate behaviours and actions that you have given or shown them. If you are the first to show trustworthiness, often others will reciprocate. But it has to be genuine!

Implement peer learning sessions where team members can share their experiences and strategies for managing conflict. This informal exchange of knowledge not only enriches individual skill sets but also cultivates a sense of camaraderie and collective problem-solving within the team.

Encourage ongoing professional development opportunities related to conflict resolution and interpersonal communication. Invest in resources such as online courses, books, and seminars to support skill enhancement.

Review and revise organizational policies to support and encourage conflict resolution. Ensure that policies are clear, fair, and applied consistently. Policies should provide a straightforward process for reporting and resolving conflicts, including timelines and confidentiality guarantees. Also, consider establishing a zero-tolerance policy for retaliation against those who seek conflict resolution.

Sometimes, external help is needed to overcome resistance to conflict resolution. Engage professional mediators who can provide an impartial perspective and facilitate dialogue between conflicting parties. Mediators can also help identify systemic issues within the organization that may be contributing to conflicts and resistance.

Consistency and follow-through are key to overcoming resistance. Once a conflict resolution process is initiated, ensure it is seen through to completion. This includes monitoring the situation after the resolution to prevent recurrence and to make adjustments as necessary. Acknowledge and reward positive outcomes and behaviors related to conflict resolution to reinforce their value.

Review your incentives - from the way you reward your team, to how you communicate on success and challenges, and have promoted your first hires. Are you explicitly rewarding collaboration, or do people have to compete to show their individual impact? do you reward people for accepting feedback and reusing others’ ideas and materials, or only for initiating and sharing new things? Listeners and fast followers building on the work of others, and positive attitude should be as rewarded as those who speak first. And incentives and rewards should be fair Nd transparent. Lead by example. Be collaborative, but avoid being perceived as allowing unfair advantages, or being judgmental.

I think resistance here is often cultural as much as culture. The CEO owns culture and needs to create an environment where people feel safe to engage in healthy conflict. It requires training and that leadership demonstrate it publicly and often. Our teams are all over the world and in many cultures, you simply do not disagree with your boss. This is even important in our personal lives. As a parent, my wife and I also do not run into another room when we disagree. We try to model this same behavior (and the same lessons) for our kids as well.

Conflict resolution needs to be a priority for organizations, simply because if not addressed in time, situations can become too complex to resolve. In an experience a few years ago, I tried to get two team members that found themselves in an impasse to talk … without talking! We played a game where they both started with writing down 10 things they disliked about each other. Then I asked them to write down 3 things they liked about each other. I shared the first part first, and it turned out that neither could come up with 10 issues about the other. Then I shared the second part, and instinctively they seemed compelled to share more than 3 good things about each other. Was I lucky? Maybe. But the exercise was a good conversation opener.

If your organization resists conflict resolution, consider fostering a culture of open communication and constructive dialogue by providing conflict resolution training, modeling desired behaviors, and implementing formal policies. Encourage feedback, offer mediation services, and celebrate successful resolutions to highlight the benefits of addressing conflicts proactively. Address any specific concerns or resistance factors and communicate the importance of conflict resolution in improving teamwork and productivity. By taking these steps, you can promote a more positive and collaborative work environment conducive to resolving conflicts effectively.