How to manage conflict at work

Research from the CIPD found that 26% of employees and 20% of employers believe that conflict is a common occurrence and part of organisational life. Their survey found that 35% of employees had experienced some sort of interpersonal conflict such as an isolated incident or ongoing dispute in the past year.

 

Employees can spend around two to three hours a week dealing with conflict at work. It can be a causal factor in workplace stress and a major distraction from the organisation’s mission.

 

 

What is conflict at work?

 

NCVO defines conflict at work as either formal, such as a tribunal or other legal proceedings being brought against the charity, or informal, such as a more minor clash between staff.

 

For formal conflicts such as tribunals there are procedures and processes that must be followed. Informal conflicts don’t have the same framework, so they can be much more challenging to manage and take up valuable staff time.

 

“Human beings are wired to help each other, we live and work in communities because our ancestor’s survival depended on it,” says Lucy Gower, Director of Lucidity and co-host of The Quiet Leadership Revolution podcast. “It’s one of the reasons that so many people find disagreement or conflict really difficult to navigate. Knowing you’re not alone in this can help.”

 

When it comes to informal conflict, we probably need to dig a bit deeper to understand what it really is and whether we need to address it as conflict or recognise it as something else.

 

“Conflict in itself is a loaded word,” Gower says. “Reframe conflict as challenge, or difference of opinion. Challenge and difference are good – where there is challenge there is learning and progress. If, as a manager, your team feels safe to voice their alternative opinion, you’re doing a lot right. If we always agree, if we only see the situation from a single same perspective, if there is no challenge or disagreement, we run a grave risk of stagnating. There’s little opportunity for learning, no progress and no innovation.”

 

However, we also need to be aware of power imbalances in conflict. For example, what may seem like low level, informal conflict between a member of senior staff and a more junior member of the team could be underreported bullying and harassment.

 

The CIPD managing conflict report says, “It can take a lot of courage for someone to speak up about inappropriate behaviour at work, but there are very mixed and disappointing results on the ability of organisations to deal compassionately and effectively with complaints. Many people felt their organisation didn’t act swiftly or fairly to resolve the complaint, or that they were even being blamed for the situation. “

 

The Institute of Directors (IoD) argues that you can identify the difference between when a conflict is based in positive, healthy challenge and when it is negative and unhealthy.

 

Some positive challenges include:

• Disagreement on how to deliver the organisation’s mission and vision
• Debate on the best solution to an organisational challenge
• Conflict focussed on an organisational issue and not the character of the people involved

On the negative, unhealthy side, look out for:

• Conflict focussed on issues or incidents from the past
• Conflict between people or teams that is perpetuating siloed working or division
• Negative attention on perceived issues with an individual or team

‘Unhealthy’ conflicts may need attention and support from the wider organisation and leadership to move towards resolution. Below we look at some tips for managing conflict at your charity.

 

 

Investing in organisational culture

 

According to the CIPD, there are a few steps that organisations can take to improve approaches to conflict management.

 

 

Develop a culture of inclusion

 

20% of employees agreed with the statement “people in my team sometimes reject others for being different”. A focus on inclusion and growing a diverse team will begin to dissolve perceived barriers and differences between individuals and teams. It’s also vital that charities are committed to cultures where bullying and harassment are unacceptable – and this starts at the top.

 

 

See a role for HR in employee relations and conflict resolution

 

HR teams need time and space beyond hiring, training, and managing the procedures for formal conflicts to support employee relations and the soft skills that support healthy relationships at work.

 

 

Support management training across the organisation

 

The Charity Management Matters Research Report found that managers and leaders often forgo training and instead use the budget to upskill their teams. While this is generous, it could have negative impacts on issues like conflict at work.

 

 

Develop tools for managing conflict-related stress as an individual

 

Here are some steps you can take as an individual. 

 

 

Develop trusted relationships

 

Jennifer McCanna, who hosts the podcast My Emotional Work Life, says: “If you are experiencing something that feels like inter-personal conflict it can feel uncomfortable and messy. Do give yourself permission to have those feelings. Emotions are after all signposts telling us what’s important to us and giving clues to what we need.

 

“Some of us have trusting relationships in or outside of work where we can safely express those emotions. I find that once my leadership clients have had the space to share any worry, anger, frustration they invariably find new insight, which helps them come up with a strategy for how to positively move things forward.”

 

 

Test out techniques like EFT

 

Emotional freedom technique (EFT), which I use with my clients is a fantastic self-help tool, helps you process big emotions you might feel during conflict at work and move past them for good.

 

We should welcome challenge and debate in the workplace, even when they feel uncomfortable and develop techniques to manage the feelings associated with them so we can re-focus on making the best decisions for the charity’s mission.

 

But conflict that stays unresolved and gets personal could be a foil for something more serious. Developing an inclusive and supporting organisational culture can help charities to manage conflict and prevent bullying and harassment.