As a manager, you’re going to have to deal with occasional conflicts in the office environment. This is inevitable when working with groups of people. If your business employs many people, the chances of occasional conflict are therefore higher.

At the end of the day, we are all human beings and that means misunderstandings sometimes happen when people are feeling stressed or perhaps having a generally bad day, and differences in opinion are also likely to happen sometimes too. Normally, these can be overcome quickly by those involved and the issue never has to become anything of note, but sometimes this type of situation can grow into a bigger problem.

When that happens, managers have to step in and try and mediate between all parties involved, to resolve the situation and work towards a once-again harmonious atmosphere. 

High-quality conflict resolution skills can help to side-step problems with productivity, and also ensures that morale within the office remains high throughout.

Why is Productivity so Important?

Productivity is basically the amount of work your office is completing, or you can go person to person and watch their productivity levels too. The higher the productivity, the more orders you’re getting, the more work is completed, and the happier your customers are. High productivity means high growth levels and high profitability for a business. 

There is a direct link between productivity and morale. When morale within your office is high, productivity is likely to be high too. It’s extremely rare for an office to have very low morale and still be productive. 

The good news is that if you’re noticing productivity in your office could be improved, there are ways to do that. Check out this video which highlights a few ways to improve productivity in your office.

If a conflict does occur between two or more employees, stepping in quickly and fairly can ensure that the problem doesn’t rage out of control and become more serious over time. However, it’s important to approach conflict resolution in the right way and not to jump in with both feet and say the wrong thing. This can drastically reduce morale and therefore make all your efforts end up being completely in vain. 

You can’t be expected to know how to deal with conflicts with ease when you land your first management role. This is something which you will develop over time and you can go on training courses to increase your knowledge and skills. However, there are some general skills which you can use to help you become a better mediator and therefore allow you to deal with problems more effectively. 

For instance, do you know how to listen properly? You might think that’s a ridiculous question, but actually hearing the words and really knowing what is and isn’t being said are two different things. Body language, tone of voice, and choice of language are all very important when learning how to listen and read between the lines. 

It’s also important to remain impartial and neutral when dealing with any conflict. You can’t take sides and you can’t allow your opinion to sway how you deal with the conflict. All parties involved need to be listened to equally and their opinions have to be respected and handled with care and fairness. 

The skills you will learn at conflict resolution training sessions are transferable into your personal life too, of course, so these are useful sessions to attend! 

Of course, nobody wants to have to handle conflict, but when several people are working at their office desks, in a space either large or small, there is always going to be the potential for this to happen. If managers can learn how to handle conflicts carefully, quickly and fairly, morale will remain high, the problem will be overcome, and as a result, productivity won’t be affected. 

This is good news for everyone concerned!