Conflict management is something many SMEs struggle with and a big part of our practice here at H2R Business Solutions. We’ve seen and mediated all kinds of workplace conflict scenarios — ranging from simple disagreements to complex multi-level collaboration issues.
One thing we always tell our clients is that: If you are noticing conflict or ill-will amongst team members, you need to take action immediately. You’d be surprised how often simple conflicts can turn into company-wide divides and mistrust between team members. Gossip is unavoidable and allows even the most micro-conflicts to spread like wildfire. If you aren’t careful, it can affect the performance, productivity, and retention of your entire company. Moreover, some conflicts can even put your company at risk of legal liability.
Today, we’ll be covering some common workplace conflicts we’ve helped resolve, ranging from simple teamwork issues to highly complex power struggles. We hope that reading this article will give you more insight into how to approach workplace conflict and reestablish trust and collaboration between team members.
Are Your Attempts at Conflict Resolution Failing?
Sometimes, being too close to the conflict can make being an objective party difficult. Many leaders in management and HR understandably struggle to take a neutral approach, leading to even more issues between team members who feel undermined and resentful.
Outsourcing H2R to help with workplace conflict management can make putting an end to internal conflicts much easier, here’s why:
- We are trained in mediation, employment law, and workplace psychology. We know how to handle conflicts legally, ethically, and effectively.
- We have no personal stake in internal politics. This allows us to offer a level of fairness and transparency that is otherwise difficult for internal teams to recreate.
- Employees can feel more comfortable speaking openly with a neutral third party than with internal HR or management.
- Because of our experience, we’ve tackled practically every possible workplace conflict you could face. We’ve resolved these issues before, and we can resolve them again.
If internal conflicts are becoming a barrier to your company’s success, you’ve already lost control.
Discover How H2R Helps — Book a Free Consultation Today!
Workplace Conflict Scenario 1: Competition Between Team Members
Competition among employees can be healthy, but there’s a fine-line between healthy competition and competition which sacrifices teamwork and morale. It often starts like this:
The Scenario
- Employee A and Employee B are both eager to move up in the company. They’re assigned to collaborate on a major project that is being highly prioritized by senior leadership.
- The project goes well at first, but as the drive to impress higher-ups starts to settle in, both become threatened by each other.
- Employee A begins taking ownership of group presentations and sending updates directly to management, hoping to demonstrate initiative and control.
- Employee B, feeling overshadowed, starts working longer hours and pushing for their own ideas to take center stage—sometimes without consulting Employee A.
The Problem
This is when both stop seeing each other as teammates, and instead see each other as rivals.
- Employee A feels Employee B is undermining their authority and creating confusion by making unilateral decisions.
- Employee B feels Employee A is taking credit for their work and trying to monopolize the spotlight.
They stop sharing information openly, team meetings become strained, and other colleagues start avoiding the project altogether. The result? A fractured team dynamic, reduced productivity, and a final product that lacks cohesion.
Solution: How to Resolve Competition Between Team Members
- Promote Team Goals: Shift the focus from individual achievements to collective goals. When everyone is working toward a common objective, it can reduce feelings of competition.
- Encourage Collaboration: Create opportunities for teamwork. Group projects and team-building activities help employees learn how to work together, reducing rivalry and promoting connection.
- Recognize Contributions Creatively: Acknowledge individual accomplishments, but do so in a way that highlights how these contributions support the team. This recognition reinforces the idea that everyone’s work is valuable.
- Set Clear Performance Metrics: Clearly define success metrics for individuals and teams. Make sure that performance evaluations reflect teamwork and collaboration as much as they do individual achievements.
Workplace Conflict Scenario 2: Conflict in Working Styles
It’s not uncommon to see disagreements arise when team members with very different working styles begin working together. It often starts like this:
The Scenario
- Employee A and Employee B are working together for the first time on the same project.
- Employee A prioritizes speed, efficiency, and focuses on the big picture.
- Employee B prioritizes quality, creativity, and focuses on the details.
- These two working styles heavily clash with each other, leading to disagreements and misunderstandings.
The Problem
Because of their differing working styles, both Employee A and Employee B stop seeing each other as teammates and instead see each other as obstacles to success.
- Employee A thinks Employee B is taking too long to complete deliverables and slowing down the project by focusing on details they see as unnecessary. They see this attention to detail as an obstacle to completing the project on-time.
- Employee B thinks Employee A is forcing the team to rush through the project, sacrificing quality in the process. They see this as counterproductive and believe it sacrifices their ability to meet performance KPIs.
Eventually, this disagreement in how they approach the project creates tension, which often leads to a breakdown in teamwork, communication, and—in the process—the project itself.
Solution: How to Resolve Conflict in Working Styles
With cases like these, it’s important for leadership to step in before it’s too late. A third-party can help find an objective compromise that aligns both employee’s working styles.
- Identify Each Style: Begin by having both team members openly discuss their working preferences and approaches. This helps establish mutual understanding from the start, allowing each person to recognize that—even though their styles may differ—both ultimately have the same goal: achieving the best possible results for the project.
- Foster Open Communication: Create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their concerns with each other. Encourage them to express how their working styles affect their productivity and collaboration.
- Find Common Ground: Promote a balance between efficiency and attention-to-detail. Work with them to determine areas of the project where each working style makes the most sense. This helps them understand that both styles are important and have their place in the project.
- Encourage Flexibility: Most importantly, encourage team members to be open to adopting each other’s work styles when necessary. Although they may feel most comfortable in their preferred working style, that doesn’t mean flexibility is not a quality worth striving for on both sides.
And Don’t Forget: It’s really important in conflicts like these (or any conflict between two people for that matter) to not take sides. Even if you have a preference for one employee’s working style over the other, being obvious about this can build even more resentment and mistrust.
Workplace Conflict Scenario 3: Leadership Power Struggles
Power struggles can occur among leaders in a workplace when fights for authority and influence are not de-escalated. These kinds of conflicts create a toxic atmosphere that affects your entire team, not just the leaders involved. It is also one of the more complex types of conflicts we face in our practice. It often looks something like this:
The Scenario
- A company has recently promoted Manager A to oversee a new department initiative.
- Manager B, who has been with the company longer, manages a related team and believes they should have been given the role instead.
- Manager B begins questioning Manager A’s decisions in meetings, offering “alternative” directions to staff, and copying senior executives on minor disagreements. This creates a tense situation for everyone involved.
The Problem
Because upper management has failed to deescalate the situation, the issues only get worse and begin to affect the company on a fundamental level.
- Manager A interprets Manager B’s actions as an attempt to undermine their authority.
- Manager B doesn’t trust Manager A’s decision-making, and believes they’re correcting the situation by overtaking directives.
Communication breaks down. Employees become confused about who they should report to, and soon start mirroring their leaders’ behavior: taking sides, withholding information, and competing for recognition.
Solution: How to Resolve Leadership Power Struggles
- Clarify Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly define roles for each leader. Clarifying their responsibilities can help prevent overlap and set clear expectations for individuals trying to take over decision-making when not appropriate.
- Encourage Mutual Respect: Promote a culture of respect among leaders. When leaders value each other’s contributions, it reduces the likelihood of power struggles.
- Facilitate Regular Meetings: Implement regular meetings for leaders to discuss their goals and challenges. This encourages leaders to communicate and understand each other, aligning their goals and strategies in the process.
- Focus on Shared Objectives: Encourage leaders to work toward common goals. Promote focus on the bigger picture rather than individual agendas to facilitate collaboration.
- Host Team-Building Exercises: Look for activities that will reduce tension and help both leaders see each other as more than competition. This highlights shared beliefs and interests (rather than differences) while establishing positive rapport.
- Involve HR or Mediators: If power struggles escalate after taking all of the above steps, it may be necessary to involve human resources or a neutral third party.
Enjoyed this article? Share this post!
Follow H2R on Social