Resolution to Workplace Conflicts. How important it is to resolve these conflicts??

Being a Mentor or as a Team Leader, you must have encountered the situation where people are not aligned in a certain direction and its quite natural that based on individual's experience and the environment they grown up, are holding different mindsets and believes, hence they have their own opinions.

• How to handle a situation when your team has different mindsets and you are required to make them work on a common platform.??

When we work together its obvious to have any sort of conflict/ disagreement within the team members includes any type of conflict which takes place within a workplace, team members or managers, potentially including conflict between employees out of work hours as well.

Here you can consider these pointers before making any decision:

1. Listen Carefully.

Every conflict has sides. Before reaching on a conclusion, make sure to listen carefully to what each party is saying. Careful listening is one of the best ways to handle disputes among team members as it allows you to validate others' ideas and let them know that they are being heard, regardless of how you will handle it.

Let both sides present their ideas. Make sure that one group doesn't interrupt the other, both the parties should be given enough time to express them without any interruption. This presentation of ideas isn't about whose argument is better than other, but about carefully listening to each side to make them feel heard and valued

2. Considerately look at the situation.

When conflicts arise, emotions and anxieties are heightened. To avoid worsening the situation, make sure that your team should understand each other, even when they don't agree. They should feel part of being listen carefully and should be able to understand and accept others' ideas. Remember that you're not always right, and your ideas aren't necessarily the best but your efforts should be unbiased.

3. Calmly discuss the conflicting perspectives.

How we respond to conflict can intensify tension. Conflicts worsen when people become emotional, and the argument becomes personal. The best way to handle conflict is to stay calm as calmer minds produce clearer and better ideas. Keep yourself and your team calm. Avoid showing signs that you agree with one group not with another. Insist both parties to talk to each other in a relaxed and civil manner . Don't let emotions overwhelm the situation by making sure no one shouts, rude behavior, offensive comments, or blames.

?4. Conscientiously look at the facts.

Make sure you have all the real facts before making any decisions to resolve a conflict. Clarify your points first, taking into consideration each person's different perspectives. Let everyone present their ideas without interruption and fear of unbiased judgement, so that you can all get the relevant facts you need to make an informed decision with careful listening and consideration of each team. Be thorough in your investigation to make further decision.

5. Cooperatively work together.

After considering above pointers you can make your team understand that, you're focusing on addressing the shared problem instead of attacking each other's personality. Because you and your team carefully listened, considerately looked at the situation, calmly discussed perspectives and conscientiously looked at the facts so now they might have a little change on their thought process.

Also you need to make them understand that how their conflicts are effecting individual growth as well business goal. If still you are struggling to make any decision or your team members are not agreed on a common platform, then its a red flag that team needs to have more understanding about each others which you can build by conducting different Training sessions, Team Outings, Open communication sessions to understand individual thoughts and mindsets.

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