Conflict is inevitable. Everyone experiences conflict in his life. Irrespective of the work or home life, one may come across a disagreement with someone. We must learn to resolve the conflict because a conflict among two member of a team can affect the productivity or a conflict in a relationship may result in a serious misunderstanding. Some people lack courage to face their problems; they avoid conflicts or show evasiveness, while, some tend to be very confrontational.
These are not the right ways to handle a conflict and just like this many people have not yet fund the perfect way to deal with the conflicts in a smooth and effective manner. One must learn to handle conflicts with tact because sooner or later he’s going to fine himself in a disagreement.
Many people make this mistake of focusing on the blame while solving a conflict. Focusing on blame will only irritate the people further instead of producing any positive results. Your focus should be on what you can do to make things better. Stop the process of fault finding and focus on rectifying the situation. Think about how you can contribute to the situation. Put effort to cool people down.
Second most common mistake is involving people personally into the matter. You should separate the people from the problem. Separate a person’s position and avoid personal attack or actions that translate as personal attack. It’s very important to separate yourself and your ego so that you can address the problem more effectively. Getting your focus off the wrong things will also help you see the conflict situation more clearly. You will then certainly grab the substance of the conflict.
Avoid the accusatory tone when in a conflict. You must stay calm and prefer being in a private situation. Address the problems than accuse the other person. Be accommodating. Let the other person speak. Listen to them intently, show your interest and try to understand what they want to convey. Try your best to keep composure and stay neutral while listening to their side of story. If you are frustrated then it will always show. If the other person is acting rude, you should still keep your dignity. It will help the situation from getting worse and might lead it in the direction of resolution.
People, while resolving conflicts, often indulge in gossip. You must avoid gossip at all costs. Gossip will only focus on the negative points of a person and it will make the situation more difficult to fix.
Conflicting situations can be avoided when you use tools like politeness, consideration and limit in your every day dealing and conversations. Prevention is better than cure but if you come across a conflict, don’t worry. It can be fixed. You just need to learn the right way.
Keywords: conflict, conflict management, strategy, disagreement.
