Workplace Tension Resolution

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Workplace Tension Resolution

• Carolyn Miller
• HRRM Director
• Chatham County

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Sources of Workplace Tension?

• Employees
• Supervisors
• Customers
• Unknown persons
• What do they all have in common???

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Causes of Workplace Tension

• Opposing positions
• Competitive tensions
• Power struggles
• Egos
• Pride
• Jealousy
• Performance discrepancies
• Compensation issues
• Perceived unfairness

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Two Major Causes of Conflict

• Communication (or lack thereof)
• Emotions

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What is the Definition of Effective
Communications?

• Effective communication occurs only if the
  receiver understands the exact information or
  idea that the sender intended to transmit.
• The more communication transactions that take
  place, the more difficult it is to get it right

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The Basic Communications Process
Interpretation
Idea
Message
Message
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Exercise 1

• On the sheets of paper provided, record a recent
  difficult conversation you had in the right
  column to the best of your ability, record the
  exact words of yourself and the person you were
  talking to
• In the left column, record your unspoken thoughts
  and feelings

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The Ladder of Inference
John wants the project to fail.
John isnt committed to this project.
John is intentionally late.
John is late to the meeting.
The meeting is planned to start at 700. John
arrives at 730.
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Feelingsnothing more than feelings

• Are feelings an appropriate part of a
• difficult conversation?
• We are taught to be rational
• Why do we avoid feelings?
• Messy
• Make us vulnerable
• We have to hear the other persons
• We have to hear the other persons feelings

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Problem with Leaving Feelings Out

• Often, the problem is really about feelings
• They will leak in (or explode) anyway
• Our feelings get in the way of good listening
• We leave out part of ourselves

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Feelings Become Something Else

• Attributions or judgments about the other
  persons intentions
• Blame

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Dealing with it5 Guidelines

• 1-Define Acceptable Behavior
• Have clearly defined expectations for employees
• Well articulated chain of command

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Dealing with it5 Guidelines

• 2-Hit Conflict Head-On
• Secret to conflict resolution is conflict
  prevention where possible
• Be proactive and seek out potential areas of
  conflict and intervene and a fair and decisive
  fashion (ideally comes from employees themselves)

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Dealing with it5 Guidelines

• 3-Understanding the WIIFM Factor
• Try to understand the others motivations
• Everyone has their own objectives to
  meet-approach conflict from the perspective of
  taking action

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Dealing with it5 Guidelines

• 4-The Importance Factor
• Pick your battles and avoid conflict for the sake
  of conflict
• If it is important, keep lines of communication
  open

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Dealing with it5 Guidelines

• 5-View Conflict as an Opportunity
• Tremendous potential to teach/learn
• Always value the feelings/opinions of others

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How-To Punch List

1. Address the conflict directly
2. Listen to both sides (3rd story)
3. Bring both (all) parties together

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How-To Punch List
4. Find common ground 5. Encourage
compromise 6. Confront negative feelings 7. Be
positive!!
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Left-Hand Column Revisited
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Questions?