What is conflict resolution?

Grievances can easily pop up in a workplace, whether between coworkers or employees and their supervisory staff. Conflict resolution is the process of mediating a disagreement to provide the optimal solution for both parties. The goals of successful conflict resolution are:

• Craft a solution to the problem that is agreeable to everyone
• Resolve the issue as quickly and effectively as possible
• Facilitate a healthier relationship between the parties involved in mediation for an improved work environment

Why you should provide training on conflict resolution

Training on conflict resolution ensures all managers and supervisors follow the same procedures and standards. Training is also important because it’s beneficial to handle disputes as quickly as possible before a disagreement escalates. Your team can do this if everyone is trained in how they should resolve conflicts.

Keeping employees happy means more loyalty to the company, better productivity and a more cohesive team. Maintaining a positive work environment helps employees collaborate with each other and achieve common goals. Once employees can move past their conflict quickly, the team can get back to working within a cooperative environment. Trust within the organization grows when staff members are encouraged to address problems they encounter in the workplace.

Training in conflict resolution can help your company’s HR department quickly and effectively deescalate any ongoing issues between staff members. Conflicts between team members cause an unnecessary waste of resources, including time, motivation and energy for every party involved. When problems arise, quick negotiations can get everyone back to working happily.

Best practices when giving conflict resolution training

Depending on the cause and the people involved, you will have various factors to consider when resolving a conflict. Disagreements can occur about politics, financial matters, work requirements and personal considerations. Consider these best practices when creating and training conflict resolution policies for your company.

Identify current or past causes of conflict

You may notice that the same conflicts happen repeatedly. Often, employees hold their silence about a certain issue, afraid to rock the boat and risk their positions. Take note of relationships that could cause strain, such as in a tight working space and between employees of different ranks.

If you notice conflict between the same employees, consider the factors that could contribute to disagreements. Is it a matter of scheduling causing stress for one or both parties? Perhaps the workload needs to be adjusted to help relieve tension, or employees need to be coached in stress relief techniques.

If there’s a theme to the conflict, review your policies and processes to identify the source.Reviewing a list of common sources with your managers can help them quickly identify root causes if a conflict occurs. Take note of common occurrences such as employee favoritism.

Other areas of possible interpersonal conflict include:

• Sudden changes in the workplace, such as adjusted schedules or added tasks
• Placing nonsupervisory employees in a supervisory position, even on a temporary basis
• Personality differences
• Disagreements on workplace procedures and policies
• Unclarified roles or improperly written job descriptions
• Poor communication between staff and managers

The elements of a conflict can be varied and subtle. An individual’s cultural background and societal beliefs undoubtedly affect the way they respond to an interpersonal conflict, so it’s important your trained conflict mediator is able to view a problem from another person’s perspective.

Evaluate and improve your current conflict resolution procedures

Talk about the current conflict resolution process with your managers, including what is successful and what might need revisions. Discuss hypothetical conflicts between employees to identify where to make improvements. Ask managers to share real examples of conflict they have encountered in the workplace to better identify different common scenarios.

If you’re training a group of managers, encourage them to share their approach to conflict resolution with the group. Each manager has a unique management style that others can learn from.Fellow managers can take tips from each other and form a consensus on how to create a standard conflict resolution process. Arbitrators, or mediators, are unbiased members of a conflict resolution situation who facilitate the resolution process as a third party and can be added to a management team to provide ongoing conflict resolution support.

Role-playing as a team or between individuals can be very valuable to the conflict resolution process. Because the cause of workplace conflict can vary, role-play the different scenarios teammates have experienced so you can practice your communication and approach to the conflict. In teams of three, take turns in the roles of manager and employees or of arbitrator and employees. By introducing arbitrators into the role-play training, a manager can practice approaching a conflict without personal feelings and commit to resolving the issue fairly.

Develop a plan for escalated conflict

When you have a carefully constructed plan to handle inevitable conflict in a workplace, you don’t have to fear negative interactions between your team members. Having some conflict helps build healthier relationships once coworkers reach a resolution. The type of conflict in the workplace can vary because of the different personalities working together in an office. When conflict escalates, you can confidently and quickly address it to help team members reach a reasonable solution.

Your company’s conflict resolution plan can include these steps:

1. Immediately separate the two employees who are in a conflict. Speak to each team member away from the other and the rest of the team. Use this time to determine the perceived problem and ask probing questions to learn any other possible factors in the disagreement.
2. Set the rules of the resolution process so employees know what to expect and how they should treat each other during this time, including not interrupting or raising their voice. Have your employees sit beside each other, preferably facing a whiteboard where you can plot the brainstormed ideas and use them to provide direction.
3. Show your employees that you are taking an unbiased approach by treating them equally. Invite both parties to brainstorm possible solutions to their problems, keeping an open mind to both parties’ individual perspectives and using emotional intelligence to facilitate a peaceful negotiation. Take special notice of the interests of each party and how they’re motivated by them, such as what wants and fears they may be feeling. It’s helpful to take notes while listening to the parties describe their issues.
4. Explore alternatives to the brainstormed ideas to come to a compromise both parties can agree on. During this process, be sure to listen carefully and write down each party’s ideas to help them reach a mutual agreement. Discourage criticizing ideas and seek out a win-win compromise.
5. Be willing to use a professional mediator or arbitrator if you aren’t able to resolve the conflict and come to a peaceful agreement.
6. Make sure to document the mediation process and provide each party with a written and signed copy of their agreement for future reference.

Develop preventative resources

During training, instruct the team to explore how conflict can be avoided, including setting clear expectations, establishing common goals and hosting meetings where team members learn how to collaborate. These meetings would be a great place to hand out informational materials to your team and explore emotional intelligence, stress relief and trust-building exercises with each other.

Related:Five Tactics for EffectivelyWorking in Teams

Encourage team members to practice conflict resolution regularly

Have team members practice conflict resolution on their own before approaching a manager. Practicing emotional intelligence in the workplace may help them appreciate their coworkers, understand the people they work with and handle their own work-related stressors. When employees have the resources to approach conflict from a better perspective, the workplace is more cohesive and productive. Your HR team can explore different ways of implementing training for conflict resolution and provide employees with the appropriate training to improve their interpersonal and mediation skills.

Document your training

Once you have a set training process, document it for future use. Create a space in your company’s HR manual to hold documents such as a list of steps managers need to take to resolve conflict and records of how you train them on these steps. Craft your company procedures around training on conflict management and provide written materials to managers and employees so they can reference it anytime. These documents also help you train new managers in the future, keeping your conflict resolution practices consistent.

You can craft a mediation policy that includes a document for each party to keep for their personal records. This document should outline the details of the conflict and its desired outcome. The agreements settled on in the mediation are outlined, and both parties, any additional arbitrators and the facilitating manager sign it. This way, employees and management staff can review past examples for ideas to apply in future conflicts.

FAQs about conflict resolution training

Who conducts conflict resolution training?

A member of human resources or an outside practitioner who specializes in conflict resolution should conduct the training. This ensures that a policy is in place and all managers are held accountable for treating everyone fairly and following the outlined procedures for conflict resolution. You can use in-person or online conflict mediation courses, depending on the needs of your company.

Who should go through conflict resolution training?

C-suite executives, managers, supervisors and team leads should go through conflict resolution training. Consider having your employees go through training as well to learn how to prevent conflict from escalating and improve interpersonal skills overall. Ensure your company policies and mediation procedures are clearly defined so that all staff involved in conflict resolution has consistent standards and documentation requirements to follow.

Are there certifications in conflict resolution training?

There are certificates you can get if you’re interested in training others on mediation, such as the Applied Conflict Resolution program offered at Portland State University. Universities with online courses provide a variety of conflict resolution certificates that may work well for your organization, depending on your group’s location and needs. Consider having your human resources representative earn a conflict resolution certification because they’re an unbiased party who can handle most escalated conflicts and should have a trusting relationship with employees.

What is the difference between mediation and arbitration?

In a mediation scenario, the mediator is an unbiased third party who uses their interpersonal skills to facilitate an agreement that satisfies both parties. The mediator can be paid or unpaid and doesn’t execute a decision but helps the party members brainstorm their own decision. An arbitrator is typically paid and is responsible for deciding the outcome of the conflict after hearing the evidence.

Is conflict resolution training expensive for a company?

Depending on the conflict resolution program you choose to implement, your company can incur a range of costs. Training employees individually can be the most cost-effective if the organization has few employees to train. Larger groups may want to outsource a professional mediator who can charge a fee that may include a three-hour minimum and administrative fees. A professional arbitrator is a legal representative and the least cost-effective out of these options.