Conflict Management: How to maintain an assertive stance?

Conflicts are natural among human beings, and it couldn't be any other way in companies. The difference in these cases lies in how they are viewed.

A conflict arises from incompatible ways of thinking, differences in ideas and interests. When these differences are not resolved, they can end up worsening and deepening, characterising what we call a conflict.

Leaders and managers must always be attentive to harmonising differences in the team and finding solutions to conflicts, always respecting the personality differences of those they lead.

However, this is not simply the responsibility of the leadership. Any professional needs to bear in mind that the care with which they express their feelings, especially the negative ones, is fundamental to living in harmony with their work colleagues and making the environment more pleasant and the team more productive.

In particular, in conflict situations, you need to adopt calm and rational attitudes, trying to argue while respecting your neighbour and with the clear intention of resolving the situation and not ‘adding fuel to the fire’.

We need to help ensure that a situation of conflict, or simple disagreement and differences of opinion, doesn't turn into a battle of egos. It is essential not to allow aggression to take over a situation where there is a simple disagreement of ideas.

Any and all attitudes within the team, whether on the part of the leader or the team members, and especially when resolving conflict situations, must be formatted in a constructive way so that we can find solutions to problems.

How to maintain an assertive attitude towards Conflict Management?

There are some basic recommendations for taking an assertive approach to conflict management that I always like to emphasise:

• If there is a conflict, confront it, using the approach that best fits the moment, but always respecting the various parties involved and conducting the process in such a way as to find a solution together. Never ignore the situation thinking that time will heal the disagreement. Time almost always only aggravates a conflict that has not been dealt with properly.
• When dealing with peripheral and minor issues, resolve the disagreement quickly and assertively, avoiding arguments and not letting them escalate into conflicts.
• When in conflict, don't allow impasses to define your priorities and interfere with your other activities. Firmly define the course of action to be taken.

Without a doubt, conflict management, i.e. the mediation of delicate day-to-day situations between people, is one of the most important factors in successful management.

The main role in this function, within any company, always falls to the manager, the immediate leader. In this case, mediating a conflict means intervening in an ethical and rational manner, leading to a solution to the differences that have arisen. As a leader, you will sooner or later have to deal with some kind of conflict in your team.

Failing to recognise the existence of a conflict or dealing with it inappropriately in the workplace can lead to serious organisational dysfunction. It is therefore up to the leader to carefully observe and look after the relationships within their team.

It's worth remembering that disagreement between people is not, in itself, a negative factor. After all, you have to agree that anyone who agrees with others all the time probably won't contribute much to the evolution of the team. And it will do little to improve performance within the company's objectives.

What you need to take care of is to ensure that disagreements and differences of opinion don't turn, due to the emotional factors of those involved, into a conflict situation. And when this happens, you need to manage the situation with a view towards resolving it as quickly as possible.

As a final warning, it is important to emphasise that, regardless of your role in the company, it is essential to always take care to manage conflicts correctly, so that they don't get out of hand and make the situation too difficult to deal with, causing damage to everyone.

Conflict Mediation is the necessary and correct attitude in any situation of heated disagreement, whatever the environment we find ourselves in.

In business terms, it is very important to take care of the intensity of reactions, both our own and those of others, so that emotional factors are kept under control and the best alternative is found in the face of impasses.