Resolving Team and Manager-Employee Conflicts

Quick reference

• 00:04 In this final section of our course, we're going to discuss how to put new skills and
• 00:09 techniques into practice.
• 00:10 In this lesson, we'll talk about ways to resolve conflicts within teams,
• 00:15 and how to manage conflicts between managers and employees.
• 00:19 All in the hopes of fostering a healthy feedback culture.
• 00:23 Team conflicts may arise from various sources, miscommunication or
• 00:28 misunderstanding, disagreements over roles and responsibilities, competing goals or
• 00:34 priorities, or differences in work styles and personalities.
• 00:39 Think back to your own experience working within a team.
• 00:42 Maybe it's at work, maybe it's a team project at school.
• 00:45 These issues, inability to communicate well, conflicts over who should do what,
• 00:50 especially clashing personalities, they're common problems within teams.
• 00:55 But they're not insurmountable.
• 00:56 If you can recognize these conflict situations early,
• 01:00 you'll be able to address them effectively.
• 01:03 To manage conflicts within teams, consider the following techniques.
• 01:07 Encourage open communication, and if this sounds like a common technique for
• 01:11 many conflicts, that's because it almost always helps.
• 01:14 Create an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their
• 01:19 thoughts, and feelings, and concerns.
• 01:21 Sometimes all it takes is for
• 01:23 people to know that they are being heard to begin to trust the others around them.
• 01:28 Clarify roles and expectations.
• 01:30 Ensure that each team member understands their role and responsibilities within
• 01:35 the team, and if you need to work together to define those roles, even better.
• 01:40 Because the next technique is to promote collaboration.
• 01:44 Encourage team members to work together, to share ideas, and
• 01:48 find mutually beneficial solutions.
• 01:51 But if problems do arise, address conflicts early.
• 01:54 Address them as soon as they come up to prevent them from escalating.
• 02:00 Now switching gears, conflicts between managers and
• 02:03 employees can be particularly challenging due to the power dynamics.
• 02:07 It's a different kind of relationship than the one colleagues at the same level have.
• 02:12 However, you can absolutely work through a conflict like this no matter what
• 02:17 side he might be on.
• 02:18 Once again, open communication is key.
• 02:22 Encourage honest and respectful dialogue between managers and employees.
• 02:27 There needs to be opportunities for people to speak their minds in a respectful way.
• 02:31 So whether that means creating informal meetings or structured reviews.
• 02:36 Something needs to be in place for communication to happen regularly,
• 02:41 to help avoid these conflicts in the first place.
• 02:44 Focus on the issue not the person, discuss the specific problem or
• 02:50 behavior, avoid personal attacks or blame.
• 02:54 Be empathetic and understanding.
• 02:56 Acknowledge each other's feelings and perspectives and
• 03:00 try to find common ground.
• 03:02 And seek feedback and be open to change.
• 03:05 Both managers and employees should be willing to take that feedback and
• 03:11 adapt their behavior if necessary.
• 03:14 So, whether you are the manager or employee,
• 03:17 it's essential you focus on the issues and try to see the other side's perspective.
• 03:23 Perhaps an employee is upset they aren't getting enough time to complete tasks.
• 03:27 As a manager, you may have the opportunity to Implement a new process or
• 03:31 change an existing one, and
• 03:33 you could both benefit greatly from working through the conflict.
• 03:37 But as we've mentioned many times before, open communication is often the first
• 03:42 step to working through conflicts and even avoiding them altogether.
• 03:47 Fostering a healthy feedback culture within your organization can help
• 03:51 prevent conflicts and improve overall work relationships.
• 03:55 We started to mention this earlier, but you can encourage regular feedback
• 04:00 through performance reviews, team meetings, and informal discussions.
• 04:04 Ensure that feedback is constructive, specific and
• 04:08 focused on behavior, rather than any personal attributes.
• 04:12 With a culture of healthy feedback, conflicts between teammates and between
• 04:18 managers and employees should become easier to work through and less frequent.
• 04:23 In our next lesson, we'll discuss strategies for
• 04:26 resolving conflicts in remote and virtual work environments.
• 04:30 See you then.

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