It is important to make sure your team is getting along as well as possible in order to ensure your projects are completed on time. Unfortunately, there will be times when certain members of your team seem to bang heads with each other, and it will be your job to identify the reasons and attempt to find a solution before your entire project goes up in flames!

As a manager, it will be your responsibility to recognize conflict and nip it in the bud. Being able to identify the various types of conflict will require continuous improvement on your part. There are a handful of reasons your employees or team members may be in conflict with each other.

Individuals have different objectives. A successful team has to have a clear objective so that everyone is working towards the same goal. Two different people working towards two different goals will have difficulty communicating with each other, as they’ll each believe themselves to be right.

There is an unhealthy level of competition. Competition can be a wonderful motivator, but not if the team members in competition are taking themselves too seriously, find themselves arguing over information, and suddenly become unproductive. Competition occurs on the corporate level as well, with different departments vying for resources as they become available.

Their roles are not clearly defined. When you first start a new project, it’s important to make sure each member of the team understands his or her tasks and how they will contribute to the overall outcome. If these roles are not clearly identified, individuals will start to feel as though other members of the team aren’t pulling their weight, or they might perceive their teammates as being overly critical of the tasks they do perform.

The workflow has been disrupted. Sometimes one part of a project can not be completed without another part being finished first. If the group completing the first tasks is late, or turns in shoddy work, the second group will be further delayed. This will almost always lead to resentment and a disgruntled, uncomfortable workplace.

There was a breakdown in communication. Sometimes pieces of information are relayed incorrectly in error. In some cases, an employee may withhold a piece of information to purposely sabotage another. Regardless, communication errors are a major cause of conflict in the workplace. It’s important to make sure all information is relayed as efficiently and effectively as possible so that no one person relies on another for critical data.

These are just a few of the reasons for conflict in the workplace, but they’re also some of the main causes. Over the coming days we’ll take a closer look at conflict it and how to both manage and resolve it. In the meantime, what are some of the major causes of conflict in your particular environment?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Fact – every single person you know experiences stress at some point throughout his or her life. Even the happiest and most productive employees will become stressed out about their jobs or family lives at one point or another. The real question is how you, as a manager, will handle that stress in order to avoid additional conflict.

We want to keep our employees as happy as possible so that they’ll continue to do their jobs effectively. When you begin to notice that once happy employees are acting grumpy and agitated, what actions will you take to control the situation before it explodes? Here are a few suggestions:

Encourage exercise. Does your company have an in-house gym? Is it possible for you to offer your employees a discounted rate at the local gym or health club? Perhaps you can have a personal trainer come in to work with your employees for a few weeks to help them get the ball rolling. It may cost a few dollars, but it’s a proven fact that people who exercise regularly are happier, experience less stress, and are more productive!

Encourage proper break times. Do your team members take advantage of their lunch hours or breaks? If not, try to encourage them to do so. Employees who never take time to relax are often stressed as well. They feel as though they’re always racing the clock, which causes high levels of stress, anxiety, and overall discontent.

Form workplace support groups. Make sure your employees have someone to turn to when their jobs or lives do become overwhelming. While the discussion of personal situations should remain limited, it’s pretty hard to draw the line between personal and work lives. Having the support of fellow employees is essential during difficult times – especially if someone genuinely needs help with his or her workflow, or has become overwhelmed with a sudden onslaught of new or time-sensitive projects.

You are not responsible for the physical or mental health of your employees, but at the same time you must remember that a person’s work/life balance does contribute to their stress and overall happiness. As a manager, it’s important to recognize the signs of stress and take action to prevent that stress from having a negative impact within the workplace.

Management trainees are encouraged to learn as much about stress management as possible before working with their new teams. They’re also taught to recognize the signs of stress within themselves, so that they can solve their own problems without impacting the productivity of their groups.

Do you have a creative method of helping your team deal with stress? We’d love to hear about it…

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”