Have confidence in dealing with conflict

Jo Faragher

There is plenty of employment law to back organisations up when it comes to dealing with grievances or conflict at work formally, but little advice for them in dealing with these thorny issues before they get to that stage.

As the CIPD’s recent research showed, a third of UK employees have experienced some form of interpersonal conflict in the workplace in the last year.

One in four, meanwhile, have ongoing difficult relationships that affect their wellbeing, ability to get on with their work and how they feel about their employer.

There is no real handbook or policy for dealing with personality clashes at work. Sometimes the chemistry isn’t right, and two people in a team will never see eye to eye. Likewise two people could get on like a house on fire socially but have completely opposing approaches to how they carry out their work, which in turn leads to disengagement both for them and sometimes their colleagues, too.

As the CIPD notes, it’s important for line managers to be brave in addressing these problems before they escalate, and that employers equip their managers with the skills and confidence to do so. In some cases, of course, this still won’t help and aggrieved staff end up leaving the business or they are dismissed, but at least managers will know they tried to still the waters.  

It’s important to address conflict at work because it can be more pernicious than purely affecting a relationship between two isolated colleagues. It can damage productivity because other staff get dragged in or expected to take sides, while managers spend more time note-keeping or preparing for a formal grievance than simply having an honest conversation with the offenders about how to move on.

Interestingly, it was junior colleagues who were most likely to identify a problem, with many senior employees claiming there was not an issue or that it had been resolved.

Perhaps this is something to cover off in selection interviews as recruiters. That popular question around ‘how have you dealt with a difficult situation?’ could really shed some light on whether a candidate has the confidence to be honest and deal with conflict head on. If so, they could have a great career ahead in nipping these issues in the bud.

However legislation or guidance changes around dealing with these sorts of problems in the workplace, it’s clear they won’t go away. What we can do is better equip both staff and their managers to face their issues and get back to the job in hand.