While several companies battle with resolving disputes between management teams and employees or among employees and their colleagues, disputes within expansion stage companies are even more magnified. I read an article on Workforce.com today that gives some wonderful insights to enable managers to keep their teams working with each other effectively. These positive changes will also result in employee retention.
Tips for Managers to prevent and Resolve Disputes:
- Explain why. If you are asking your employees to perform an action, clarify to them why, and if you can’t, do not ask them to complete the task in the first place. This thought pattern forces managers to consider, plan, and communicate more effectively.
- Show that you care. Generate a more respectful and trusting environment in your office by showing your employees you care about their success and professional development.
- Listen before you speak. If you find employees involved in a dispute, ask them about their thoughts, ask follow-up questions, and listen very carefully for truths or inconsistencies within their answers. Once you discover the answers that work, thank the individuals who took part in the dialogue.
- Say what you mean and mean what you say. Companies need to stand for accuracy, honesty, openness, and transparency. This raises the bar on the management team’s behaviors and employee’s expectations, and in the end it changes everyone’s behavior. If employees believe that everybody around them is acting honestly, trust will develop, and individuals who trust one another have less conflicts.
- Be fair. When you are trying to settle a conflict, listen and evaluate the relative value of the matter and look to find consensus, and your employees will be more inclined and open to discuss the problems and think about the choices for resolution.
- Engage and encourage people to create their own solutions. If your employees can create techniques to boost communications, decision-making and interactions, there will be fewer disputes that require you to step in with your input. Start this dialogue during the initial interview, proceed with it during an employee’s on-boarding, and present classes for managers and employees. The greater your managers are at facilitating open communication, the better your company will run.
- Promote this: “You have the right to disagree, but you should never be disagreeable”. Companies that promote this notion have provided safety valves to release the pressure of pent-up issues and confusion. If people have the chance to voice their concerns, listen to others and their views, and to mentally process both sides of an issue, they may be inclined to accept the decisions that are made. Once a decision is made, everyone should be motivated to support it.
Everything is focused on communication and trust when it comes to preventing and resolving conflicts. If a manager generates an atmosphere where open and honest communication is encouraged, disputes will probably become less frequent.
Diana Winings Martz is a Recruiting Analyst at OpenView Labs, where she is responsible for recruitment for the firm and its portfolio companies.
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