Every work environment has its ups and downs as opinions, beliefs, ideas, and personalities can clash or sync in various situations. As a team leader or boss, you will need to find ways for everyone to get along and resolve any conflicts.

Usually, you may ask your team to speak to each other and resolve their issues without further intervention on your part, whilst making sure that the disagreement is dangerous for the team and company. But, in some conflicts, it may not be possible to only rely on talks to resolve disputes.

To help you solve a disagreement among your team members, here are some tips you can consider:

Pause and Consider

Don’t immediately confront them when you hear about a conflict or disagreement between your team members.

Take your time to think about the dispute or conflict, listen to what others say, understand in-depth about the situation, and do not give in to outbursts. But make sure you don’t take too long in assessment because it can affect how well you can resolve the issue and prevent more conflict.

Look At Possible Areas For Agreement

Once you hear about the problem, consider what areas of the agreement the involved parties can work with to resolve their differences rather than focusing on what caused the conflict. When speaking to the two parties, raise these points so they can consider moving forward.

Document Evidence And Conversations

As days pass, memories about the disagreement will slowly become incomplete as people focus on other things.

If you step in to find a solution to the disagreement, document all your conversations with your team and the evidence you have gathered. This will allow you to review each side’s position and find a solution to the issue.

Advocate Mediation

Mediation is a diplomatic way to resolve disagreements amongst team members because this allows both parties to talk about their grievances against the other party without fearing retribution.

You, as the mediator, can start the discussions and help the two parties to see that their actions are harmful to all. Your involvement can also make sure that the solution will meet everyone’s interests because those involved would be happy to follow the result if they assisted in its resolution.

Propose A Compromise

Some conflicts cannot be resolved even with mediation, especially if the conflict is severe. However, if you can propose a compromise that both parties can support and agree on, it can make it easier to resolve the dispute slowly.

If you are going to pursue this step, you must consider what each party wants and what things they are willing to change for the solution to succeed.

Use Your Position To Enforce A Solution

You can also use your position to enforce a solution on both parties if both parties don’t seem ready to talk, and it is already causing problems for the rest of the team. However, if you plan to take this approach, it is important to note that it can damage the team’s dynamic if done poorly. It may also cause your employees to lose the capacity to sort out their conflicts without your involvement and rely on you to guide them. 

Take your time to assess the situation before considering when you should use your position to enforce a solution.

Collaborate With One Another To Help Solve The Conflict

Collaboration isn’t just meant for projects and tasks; it can also be used during times of disagreements and conflicts. For this strategy, you need to open the discussion with others and collaborate on how the problem can be seen from various sides and what steps can be taken to avoid the conflict.

If you want this strategy to work, you need to make sure that everyone is ready to cooperate and work together to solve the problem. It will also take a lot of time and energy because you will need to convince everyone, including the arguing parties, to participate.

In Other Words

Solving a disagreement between team members is not an easy task for anyone since people can interpret your actions differently. But, if you open your mind and consider all the possible options first before speaking to the involved parties, you will be able to create an effective strategy that can solve the disagreement and offer advice to both parties on how they can avoid the conflict in future.

Working together bound to have clashes. Here are some of the ways to resolve conflicts:
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