How to Handle Conflicts of Interest at the Workplace
People often have different opinions. Sometimes, these opinions are in your favour and at other times, they are completely against it. Conflicts of interests may arise at any time and may concern any topic. Before getting involved, it is necessary as an employer to know what is required to settle a conflict. Being an employer means being accounted for, thus proper leadership is needed. With the right attitude and knowledge, a conflict should be addressed and settled in a “healthy and productive fashion. Don’t fear conflict; embrace it – it’s your job” (Mike Myatt, Forbes).
Conflict is often unavoidable and can be unpredictable at times. Here are 3 main points and steps in handling conflicts:
- Take some time to really analyse the situation: Before actually going out and getting involved with the conflict, it is important to know what the two claims are, and how they are conflicting with each other. As an employer, you should always make time to understand the reasons “why” before actually getting to the part of solving it. It is wise to know and understand the impact the conflict has, before initially taking a stand for or against it. Coming up with open-ended questions would be a useful and constructive way to rally more information from the situation.
- Address the situation in a professional manner: Getting carried away by emotions is quite common when it comes to conflicts as it is human nature. It is best to avoid this, since it may affect the chances of fixing the actual problems. These problems can be just about anything, however, a solution should always be the main objective.
Understanding the different ways of giving constructive arguments is useful; for example, saying things such as “in my opinion” rather than stating an opinion and defending it with every sort of argument you can muster. Comments with a more constructive manner tend to unlock the possibility of discussion, thus it could help make way for a more subtle solution to the conflict. - As an employer, you should always know when to step in: Constructive criticism is a good thing to have. It enhances discussions and may even give people more in-depth thoughts to the different possibilities on a certain issue. However, stay aware when an argument goes “out of hand” and have an idea on what to do to defuse it. Jeffery Pfeffer writes that using humour is one of the many ways to do so.
Your employees need to trust you and understand that you are there to help everyone. Always keep in mind that you, ought to know when you should remain unbiased.
As long as an employer understands these main steps and acts upon them accordingly and calmly, conflict that arises can be dealt with more easily. Since conflicts are seldom unavoidable, an employer should always be ready to handle them quickly and efficiently.
Brodie Bavidge