5 ways that leaders can manage conflict:
Have you ever been a part of a conflict? Of course, you have. Everyone faces conflict at some
point in their life and it becomes stressful for them. They find it very hard to tackle this conflict.
There are 5 ways that leaders can manage conflict with and I will guide you on how to manage it.
If I could summarize it for you, it will be as follow:
1. Be assertive to resolve a conflict:
2. Be compassionate:
3. Good decision-making skills:
4. Honesty and empathy:
5. Proactive approach:
Detailed explanation of the above-mentioned term are as followed:
Be assertive to resolve a conflict:
The leader needs to have a personality that everyone sees as a role model. Being assertive is one
of the qualities that makes a good leader and thus the leader should always state concrete facts
instead of general ideas. Apart from that, they need to treat everyone fairly and handle a situation
of conflict by being assertive and not labeling people. In the end, the leader needs to propose a
concrete idea and facts that will help to resolve the conflict.
Be compassionate:
An organization has numerous conflicts when they start their business. This business leads to
numerous problems and the leader needs to take proper actions to solve the conflict. The conflict
is usually anxiety-inducing and thus the leader needs to be compassionate towards the
employees. The leader needs to understand the perspective of every employee with empathy and
from a psychological and physiological perspective. Thus, it should be noted that the other
person should understand what an individual is going through and then compassionately
handling the situation.
A leader who avoids conflict usually has to pay a high price and thus it is very important to avoid
these conflicts. A leader needs to be compassionate for the feelings, thoughts, and ideas of other
people, which helps to reduce conflict and anxiety in the organization. In other words,
compassionate communication helps an individual to solve different problems.
Good decision-making skills:
Decision-making skills are very important in order to determine if an individual can take proper
decisions and take actions whenever they are required. They need to keep in mind the following
things:
- To be able to critically evaluate the outcomes of the decisions
- The leader should evaluate all the possible options carefully and they should also
establish priorities
- The logical consequences should be anticipated beforehand
- A calculated risk should be taken while making a decision. In other words, the risk
should be determined properly
- Quantitative analysis should be carried out to give a good reason for making a particular
decision
A leader needs to be very keen about making good decisions as to the decisions of the leader
directly impact the organization. The organization will be directly affected due to the decisions
of its leader. A leader with good decision-making skills can make an organization. However, if a
leader does not have good communication skills then the organization might face huge conflicts.
Honesty and empathy:
The leader is someone who acts as a role model for every individual who is working in the
organization. If the leader is honest then the employees or the people might follow the same
track. If a leader wants hardworking people, he needs to show them that honesty goes a long
way. Besides that, empathy is also another important trait that helps to solve a conflict. Honesty
will help the leader to establish particular boundaries in their organization and sometimes it is
very important to discuss the conflict in the organization. Communicating with your employees
that what do they want in the organization and how an individual is perceived is a part of
honesty. Thus, it helps to tackle any conflict that might arise in the organization.
On the other hand, empathy is when you understand other people, you understand their feelings,
and thus empathy in a leader will play a huge role, as the people will feel that they are respected
and that they are needed and understood. It will also help to resolve conflicts and this will reduce
stress and anxiety in the longer run.
Proactive approach:
The proactive approach means that the leader should be vigilant and they should make sure that
they make decisions before the conflict has arrived. The conflicts can be solved through both the
proactive method as well as the reactive method.
The reactive method is when the leader deals with the conflict when the conflict emerges and
they usually use some of the techniques such as withdrawal, negotiation, and force. A reactive
approach is not suitable to solve conflicts and thus this is the case where the proactive approach
comes in.
The proactive approach is when the decisions are made long before any conflict arises to make
sure there is no conflict in the organization. To carry out the proactive approach, the leader needs
good communication skills. This helps to decrease the length of time that affects the employees
with the conflict and also has a lesser effect on the productivity of the employees.
A leader should adopt the proactive approach for the betterment of the organization and to stay
away from any kind of potential conflicts.
Conclusion
Conflict management helps to reduce the conflict that occurs inside an organization or among
different people. This type of conflict will be an issue for the organization and the leader needs to
take proper measures. This article discusses 5 ways that leader leaders can manage conflict.
These ways include being assertive to resolve a conflict, being compassionate, having good
decision-making skills, being honest and empathic, and having a proactive approach.
It should be kept in mind that some of the factors such as insightful decision-making, impartial
decisions, providing mediation regarding a conflict, and facilitation play an equally important
role in this matter. If the leader can solve the conflict then it is believed that they are a good
leader and the organization benefits from such a leader in the longer run. However, if the leader
is not able to handle conflicts then they might face huge problems in the longer run.
