Even the most well-coordinated team isn’t immune to conflicts in the workplace. Confrontations and misunderstandings complicate work and create tension in relations with colleagues. Let’s see how to properly resolve conflicts and strengthen working relationships.

Mistrust

Incidents of mistrust arise from failure to follow agreements, poor work performance or failure to meet expectations. All of these can lead to broken working relationships and poor teamwork. To restore trust, communication between the parties will have to be rebuilt. It’s important to listen to each party’s point of view and try to understand their position.

Building trust is a process that requires time, patience, and effort from each team member. To permanently end pockets of mistrust, strive for open communication in the workplace, establish clear rules for assigning responsibilities, and create a positive atmosphere. Fair performance appraisal will help in resolving this type of controversy. Learn to communicate without aggression or rudeness, support your colleagues in word and deed, respectfully accept constructive criticism of yourself, and provide unbiased feedback.

Challenging Personalities

Clashes with a colleague with a difficult character can be some of the most difficult. In this situation, try to manage your emotions and find ways to communicate effectively. The first step to resolving conflict is to understand the reasons for a colleague’s behavior. Try to put yourself in their shoes and understand what you could change in your behavior to make communication more productive. You should act the same way as those who play at Vave professionally: remain calm and don’t give in to provocation. If you feel that you are about to lose control of your emotions, step away from your workplace for a few minutes or take up another task, it will help calm down.

Psychologists advise using the “self-message” technique in communication with such colleagues. It will allow you to correctly express your point of view without insulting the interlocutor. For example, instead of saying “you are always saying nasty things to me,” say – “it seems to me that I often hear negative comments from you.” If you can’t resolve the conflict yourself, ask your manager or human resources professional for help.

Disagreements

Disagreements at work are one of the most common types of conflict. Colleagues disagree about working methods, priorities and goals, and often disagree about the distribution of responsibilities. To resolve the conflict, it’s necessary to find a compromise solution that suits everyone.

To begin with it will be necessary to lower the temperature of the discussion, listen to the opinions of colleagues and try to understand them. Then you can propose alternative ways of doing the work or changing the schedule. If it’s still impossible to come to a consensus, agree to each perform his part of the task independently. Remember that openness and a willingness to compromise are key to resolving conflict. If all team members are committed to achieving a common project goal, the likelihood of success is greatly increased.

Competition

Quarrels in the workplace are often caused by competition between colleagues: everyone tries to stand out, to show their uniqueness and to outdo the others. If the situation gets out of control, tensions rise in the team.

A negotiation process will help reconcile the warring parties. It’s important to understand that the goal of negotiation isn’t to defeat a competitor, but to reach a compromise. If even at the negotiation table colleagues cannot find common ground and continue to destroy the relationship, ask for help from a third party, such as an HR manager or a mentor. Competition is just one aspect of working life that can lead to conflict. It’s important to learn how to manage it properly and use it as a resource for the growth of employees and the company as a whole.

Lack of Resources

One of the most common types of conflicts between colleagues arises from a lack of all kinds of resources. This can be due to limited access to information, budgetary constraints, or staff shortages. Often these conflicts arise already in the course of the project, when each team member wants more for their work.

Use collaborative and compromise strategies to resolve conflict. For example, you can team up with other team members to gain access to the right resource or use alternative methods to complete a task. It’s also helpful to prioritize tasks: which ones require more resources and which ones can be accomplished at a lower cost. It’s important to keep an eye on the budget and use resources sparingly.