Conflict Resolution on Your Team
Every team, friendship, and relationship has conflict. Conflict is inevitable but it is how we handle the conflict when it happens. Addressing an issue immediately and before it grows often can result in quicker resolution. Have you had an issue with a teammate and not known what to do? Well, buckle up and let’s go!
What is the root cause of conflict?
You can feel your blood boiling about something that happened on your team and it’s something you just can’t let go. You decide it’s time to address the situation. What next after you do?
The first step is finding the root cause. Review the list below and establish what ignited this argument on both sides. Identify the needs of both people involved in the conflict. What happened from each persons’ perspective? According to a Ted Talk around conflict these are three areas that often spark conflict:
· Limited resources: time, money, property
· Unmet needs: physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental
· Different values: what your beliefs are in the world, how people should behave or talk, etc.
Establishing the issues from you and the person you are in disagreement is the essential step to resolving the disagreement. You have heard their side, so what do you do with this information? How do you process it?
How logic, emotion, and empathy can balance conflict
When in conflict, you don’t just need one of these items but all of them. Logic helps you think rationally, emotion allows you to feel the situation, and empathy allows you to hold compassion to the people you are in disagreement with.
Logic:
Helps us to figure out the root of the conflict and can help you move towards a solution.
Emotion:
Our emotions allow us to decide where our values stand and guide us on when something needs to change.
Empathy:
It allows us to put ourselves in the shoes of the other person and imagine how they are feeling and why they are feeling this way.
Logic and empathy helps calm our emotions to rationally figure out how to solve this issue. When working on a team or with a relationship in your life, conflict isn’t always about winning but reaching a compromise where both people walk away feeling resolved.
Mediation
In some instances, conflict cannot be resolved with just you and those involved in the conflict. Sometimes it is necessary to bring in another person who is uninvolved to help facilitate and mediate the disagreement. So, if your Spirit Box team had a disagreement on something and could not solve it amongst yourself you could bring the issue to your advisor to help your team come up with the solution. If emotions are high, bringing in an objective uninvolved person can bring a fresh set of eyes to the situation and help you reach a solution.
Conclusion
No one likes conflict. Honestly, it is uncomfortable, and life would be so much easier if it didn’t exist, right? Unfortunately, we are all imperfect and conflicts happen. The best thing we can do in a conflict is to come in with an open mind, respect, honesty, empathy, and a goal to reach a resolution. Next time a conflict arises, don’t panic! You have the tools that will prepare you to solve the problem where everyone walks away feeling heard.
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