Training managers in handling conflict

Conflicts at work can have serious repercussions for staff and the bottom line, so managers need to learn to resolve them

By some estimates, managers spend between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of their time managing conflict. Whether as a result of personality differences, diverging priorities or values or scarcity of time or resources, a conflict not properly managed can have serious consequences for staff and the bottom line.

Since managers spend so much time dealing with conflict, they need to become competent conflict managers. There are three general ways managers resolve conflicts: managerial decision-making, managerial mediation and conflict coaching.

Managerial decision-making

The traditional form of conflict resolution for managers is simply to make a decision that ends the conflict. Employees in conflict will often approach a manager and seek a “final and binding” decision that will support one side or the other. The manager may choose to perform an informal investigation and then make a decision. Employees who respect their manager will live by the decision, even if it goes against their interests. Unfortunately, a poorly trained manager might cause more problems than she resolves with an ill-considered decision.

Thus many employers have found it useful to provide leadership training to managers to help them become better decision-makers. This training focuses on:

•asking the right questions;

•getting all the facts before making a decision;

•applying fairness and reasonableness to decision-making; and

•being decisive.

All managers should have some training in making decisions. Depending on the size of the company and the resources available, it would be helpful to have a consistent training package and program for new managers. This might even involve a written guide for managers.

In larger companies, this program could include anywhere from one to four weeks of intensive training. Companies that devote the time and resources to such training will see tangible results. Where unions are involved, this training must include a thorough review of the collective agreements and labour laws. Managers who understand the laws that govern the workplace will make fewer mistakes in this area.

Smaller companies that don’t have the resources to do in-house training may want to consider purchasing training from service providers. There are various consulting companies that have offerings on effective managerial decision-making skills.

Managerial mediation

Often the parties in conflict are seeking a manager to provide them with a forum to resolve their own dispute. This is known as managerial mediation. In the past, very little attention was paid to the manager’s role as a mediator. This was because managers were traditionally viewed as decision-makers — not as mediators of conflict. But this view has changed. Managers are expected to help employees resolve conflicts so they can get on with their work.

Managerial mediation requires a skill set that may be somewhat foreign to many managers. It certainly requires a level of sophistication that reaches beyond managerial decision-making as a form of conflict resolution in the workplace. Instead of imposing a decision upon conflicting parties, managers work with them to help resolve their own conflict.

Training for managerial mediation focuses upon mediation skills such as:

Communication skills: Active listening, paraphrasing, summarizing and reframing.

General mediation skills: Neutralizing statements, mutualizing interests and objectives, futurizing problem statements and issues, clarifying issues and interests and exploring and normalizing emotions.

Using the mediator tool kit: Building trust and confidence, using open-ended questioning techniques, validating concerns and feelings, regulating intrusions, caucusing, paraphrasing to invite responses, using silence, identifying reciprocity, identifying interests, identifying priorities, brainstorming and problem-solving, negotiating concessions exchanges, reality testing and analyzing agreement.

These skills can be learned from any mediation course. The focus of mediation is on interest-based negotiations, as set out in the bestselling book, Getting to Yes, by Roger Fisher and William Ury. Most universities and community colleges have courses of anywhere from three to five days in length. In addition, private service providers will do in-house training on mediation skills.

Larger organizations may want to develop their own training. In-house training is usually more effective because the factual situations are more familiar to participants. Mediation training involves extensive role-playing where managers can try out their new skills in a safe environment before using them in real life.

In addition to live training, there are various forms of computer-based training products, videos and handbooks available for managers. These are recommended only as augmentation for live training.

Conflict coaching

The next level of sophistication in conflict management is conflict coaching. Conflict coaching can be used at any stage in the life of a conflict. It helps employees develop and improve the way they deal with conflict. It can be used to deal with specific disputes or as a form of early conflict prevention. The role of the manager as coach is to train participants to manage conflict on their own. This requires considerable training in conflict coaching. Managers who act as conflict coaches must take extra precautions to ensure they are not perceived as being one-sided due to their support of one person over another in conflict.

Training for conflict coaching is available through private service providers. This training can be extensive and may involve increasingly advanced skills development. Managers should start with mediation skills training before receiving conflict coaching training.

Who coaches the managers?

Regardless of what form of conflict management is being used, and regardless of the training available in an organization, the primary and most effective approach to help managers resolve conflict is mentoring. The role of the manager-once-removed is to mentor the manager in these areas. All senior managers should be “conflict competent.” This may require training for them as well as front-line managers. Consider having components of the training shared by managers and senior managers. This will demonstrate the commitment of senior management to a “conflict competent” organization.

Blaine Donais is a Toronto-based labour lawyer specializing in labour-management negotiation, mediation, arbitration and facilitation, as well as author of Workplaces That Work: A Guide to Conflict Management in Union and Non-Union Work Environments. He may be reached at www.workplacefairness.ca.

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