Easy and Effective Conflict Management with SDI!

What are the true costs of conflict? A very difficult question to answer as it’s not necessarily obvious, just like conflict itself. Studies from the Harvard Business Review (2009) revealed some interesting statistics that suggested the effects of conflict in the workplace are far more toxic and far-reaching than managers imagine.

After experiencing some kind of conflict at work, employees reported that:

• 48% decreased their work effort,
• 47% decreased their time at work,
• 38% decreased their work quality,
• 66% said their performance declined,
• 80% lost work time worrying about the incident,
• 63% lost time avoiding the offender, and
• 78% said their commitment to the organisation declined

If we were to put a dollar value on these percentages, what would be the result? Certainly higher than most people anticipate, and the costs are not just financial!

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Conflict

Have a Nice Conflict!

5 keys to having a nice conflict

Productive conflict management can be broken down into five key areas:

• Anticipate — Anticipating conflict starts with knowing who you're dealing with. Then ask yourself how various people might view the same situation differently. When two or more people see things differently, there is the potential for conflict. If you can figure that out, you have a good shot at steering clear of it.

  

• Prevent — Preventing conflict is really all about the deliberate, appropriate use of strengths in your relationships. A well-chosen behaviour on your part can prevent conflict with another person. But you need to prevent conflict in yourself sometimes too, and that might have more to do with choosing your perceptions than choosing your behaviours. Asking sincere and appropriate questions with the intent of preventing or managing conflict is almost never a bad idea.

• Identify — There are three basic approaches in conflict: rising to the challenge, cautiously withdrawing, or wanting to keep the peace. When you can identify these approaches in yourself or others, you are empowered to handle the situation more productively.

• Manage — Managing conflict has two components: managing yourself and managing the relationship. Managing conflict is about creating the conditions and empowering them to manage themselves out of the emotional state of conflict. It's also about managing yourself out. Managing yourself in conflict can be as easy as taking some time to see things differently. 

• Resolve — To create movement toward resolution we need to show the other person a path back to feeling good about themselves. When they feel good about themselves, they are less likely to feel threatened and are free to move toward a compromise and resolution.

These techniques and more are featured in Personal Strengths Publishing's book Have a Nice Conflict: A Story of Finding Success and Satisfaction in the Most Unlikely Places. The book follows the journey of John Doyle, a middle manager fighting to save his relationships and rescue his sinking career. It's an engaging story of one man's odyssey deep into Relationship Awareness concepts. Based on the research of Dr. Elias H. Porter, the book reveals a relational approach to conflict that consistently leads to productive results and stronger relationships.

Be sure to have a look at the Have a Nice Conflict website and read up about the all new HANC - Training Program. (pdf)

Are you experiencing conflict related issues at your organisation? We have a solution for you! Contact us today and discuss what the SDI can do to help you reduce your cost of conflict, improve working relationships throughout your business and improve your company’s productivity!