5 Conflict Resolution Skills That Will Improve How You Lead
Important Things You Need to Know if You Want to Become a Better Leader
Having adequate conflict resolution skills is mandatory if you want to improve how you lead and become a better leader.
When people of different backgrounds, experiences, beliefs and standards work together, it is inevitable conflicts will arise. Even a positive environment can have conflicts, therefore a leader should know how to deal with it to reach the best solution.
What is Conflict Resolution?
Conflict resolution is the actions you can take to address differences or disagreements between two or more people. It refers to the process to get to a solution, while ensuring everyone involved feels heard, valued and respected.
To effectively resolve a conflict, you need to:
- Find out the root cause of the issue or conflict.
- Remain neutral and not take sides.
- Ensure everyone involved shares their point of view.
- Reach a solution everyone can agree to.
When you can resolve conflicts well, you will enhance your leadership skills and command more respect from your team members.
What Causes Conflict?
The common causes of conflict include:
- Inadequate or unclear communication.
- Expectations not met.
- Personality clashes.
- A high workload perceived as unfair.
- Poor performance management.
- Change in priorities.
- Inconsistent leadership behaviour.
Knowing what a team member is dealing with in their professional and personal life will help you deal with it constructively.
Reasons to Have Conflict Resolution Skills
If you have good conflict resolution skills, it usually means:
- You will develop active listening skills.
- Your communication skills will improve.
- You will better understand what drives or motivates your team members.
- You will enhance your problem-solving skills.
- You will know how to ask probing or clarifying questions.
- You will increase your self-confidence.
5 Conflict Resolution Skills That Will Make You a Better Leader
Here are five conflict resolution skills that will enable you to communicate effectively and reach a solution that works for all involved.
- Let go of preconceived assumptions and biases. This means being prepared and managing your emotional state. Conflict often happens unexpectedly. You cannot let yourself get triggered by someone or take anything personally. Your objective always needs to be what’s in the best interest of your team and everyone involved.
- Create a safe space for people to speak freely. If people do not feel safe, they will hold back and not share everything. You can create a safe space by showing empathy and assuring those involved all discussions will be confidential. You can also state your objective is to reach a resolution fair to everyone.
- Give those involved the opportunity to state their outcome. For a conflict situation to get resolved adequately, everyone’s outcomes need to be understood. As the mediator, a question you can ask is, “What would you like to get out of this discussion that is fair to you and to the other person?”
- Ask “why” questions to get to the root cause. Give those involved the chance to share what’s going on. Usually, you will not get to the root cause right away. When you ask “why” questions, you will go beyond the surface level details and get to the crux of the issue much faster. That will make it easier to identify solutions.
- State how you will follow-up and provide additional support. Sometimes, an issue may need additional follow-up and intervention. It may also require you to hold those involved accountable to stick to the agreements reached. Your integrity as a leader will be tested, which means you have to do what you say you will.
Final Thoughts
A conflict can elevate the performance of a team and improve how team members interact. When you need to resolve a conflict, look at it as a chance to improve your leadership ability and make your team better.
Conflict resolution is an important skill to develop if you want to improve how you lead and become a leader worth following.
Action Step: Next time you have a conflict in your team, prepare well before starting the resolution process. Get the facts and go into the discussion with a mindset to better understand what is really going on. Use the ideas suggested here to guide you through the process.
Question: What are other conflict resolution skills that will improve how you lead?
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