Good conversations are key to managing workplace differences

Are you planning to get back to the office from early next year? As more and more organisations decide to get their teams back, the excitement of the employees, bored working from homes and fatigued with virtual calls, is rising. After all, who does not love the face-to-face conversations, intense discussions and chatting with colleagues over coffee breaks.

However, unlike home, the office is a place where you have to navigate difficult conversations and disagreements daily: an argument with a colleague because you think he/she consistently rejects your ideas; the exchange of nasty emails over missed deadlines; remarks by senior that you feel are sarcastic and so on.

Now, before you mull over how to manage disagreements, let us talk about possible situations under which conflicts occur. We can segregate them into five categories:

Interdependent: When individuals in a project must coordinate their tasks so that everyone can successfully get their part done.

Leadership style: Every leader has a different style, and every team member reacts differently to those leadership styles.

Working style: Some prefer to work in groups, while others do their best work alone. And some do not need any direction from superiors, while others require external input.

Personality based: All individuals are different. We may not like everyone we meet, and it’s not easy to work with someone we don’t like.

Cultural differences: Employees of different cultural backgrounds, belonging in diverse generational groups and with various beliefs can be involved in conflicts.

In every organisation, there is a small set of people who can manage such conflicts quite well while most others either lose their temper or fail to appreciate the concerns of others leading to personal grudges. Certain fears and habits prevent people from dealing with disagreements effectively. To be able to improve your reactions, review these common barriers to addressing conflicts, and discover ways to respond productively.

Acknowledge that although conflict can be uncomfortable, it is a fact of life. Focus on the positive outcomes of addressing a disagreement. Evaluate your workplace relationships. Ask yourself which relationships seem tense, frustrating, or unproductive. Acknowledge that these relationships are further hampered by poor conversations. Identify what you can do to improve the situation. Honestly think about your role in the conversation.

Remind yourself that you are not trying to change the other person. Rather, you want to alter the way two of you interact. You can do that by changing your behaviour. Trust takes time to build in any relationship and it cements overtime. Sometimes it takes years to build trust. Patience, diligence and empathy help build trust faster. Most problems

You spend a significant amount of time in your office and the only way to enjoy your workplace is by identifying the areas of disagreements and work actively towards resolving them. Start with accepting that each person is differently wired

do not resolve themselves on their own, and steps need to be taken to deal with them.

You spend a significant amount of time in your office and the only way to enjoy your workplace is by identifying the areas of disagreements and work actively towards resolving them. Start with accepting that each person is differently wired. A useful strategy is to keep the anger in check, listen assertively and genuinely try to understand the other’s point of view. Start with agreeing to the points the other person is making. Focus on points of agreement first. ‘Yes’ is followed by ‘yes,’ and ‘no’ is followed by a ‘no.’ Get the other person to say ‘yes’ first.

Disagreements help bring-out creativity, allow you to learn from others’ viewpoints, and lead to better team outcomes. How about taking disagreements into your stride in 2021?