An important part of any leader’s job is ensuring that people work together in accord. There are times when that happens naturally, but without strong leadership it’s easy for your team’s goodwill to fall apart under serious disagreement or a time of high stress.
Every team experiences conflict. Whether it’s a battle for control, a clash of priorities, or just a difference in understanding, some degree of conflict is a fact of life in most work groups, civic organizations, neighborhoods or even families, for that matter.
Many conflicts are quickly resolved with little effort, part of the everyday give and take of group life, but some require intervention.
If you’re like most of us, there’s someone in our workplace who—let’s face it—gets on your nerves and drives you crazy. Whether it’s an employee who knows it all, a client whose poor planning skills make everything a crisis, a senior executive with a huge ego, or a board member who can’t stay on track, the end result is the same: Stress. You worry about what disruptive thing they’ll do or say next, and about your ability to control your own responses—not to mention what others might do. It’s almost like middle school for adults.
It’s difficult to know how to handle these people/situations. You may find yourself reduced to dealing with their behavior one crisis at a time, walking on eggshells in between. It’s exhausting and it detracts from your performance—and your team’s.