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Conflict 101
By Susan Shearouse
www.frameworksforagreement.com

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Also available on Kindle and Nook.

When conflict brews at the office,
it’s a manager’s job to cool things down.

You’ve got one coworker storming out of another’s office, two others who aren’t speaking to each other, people on the same work team expressing major differences on how to get a project done … and still others, in different departments, waging a silent battle over resources. With all this workplace conflict stewing, how, as a manager, can you ensure that any work is getting done?

Whenever human beings interact, it’s inevitable that conflict—when what one person wants, needs, or expects interferes with what others want, need, or expect—will bubble up to the surface … and no more so than at the office. Whatever the cause, it’s your job as a manager to ensure that these ripples of discord don’t lead to a lack of productivity, increased employee turnover and absenteeism, and other natural consequences of workplace friction.

Conflict 101 gives you the tools you need to navigate relationships, build compromises and collaborations, and not only get your people back on track, but channel the energy of disagreements into positive results.
You’ll discover practical, immediately usable ways to:

• Build trust among coworkers
• Harness negative emotions
• Encourage apologies and forgiveness
• Use a solution-seeking approach to resolving employee differences, and
• Say what needs to be said in situations involving interpersonal tension.

Whether it’s a disagreement about processes, factionalism over where money and staff will come from, or the byproduct of complicated relationships or differences stemming from values, it’s imperative that you stem the tide of conflict and keep your people focused.