Stressed Out: How to Handle Conflict, Difficult People and Challenging Situations

Time is Money. There are a variety of direct costs to the organization associated with poorly managed conflict, including, in the worst cases, the loss of customers and good employees. One that is visible to everyone is the time taken to successfully resolve issues. The time that would be better spent on accomplishing work and achieving goals is instead used to manage disagreements, smooth ruffled feathers, and deal with difficult people.

When CPP Inc. commissioned a study on workplace conflict, they found that an overwhelming majority (85%) of employees at all levels experience conflict to some degree. Furthermore, they found on average, each employee spends 2.1 hours every week – approximately one day a month – dealing with conflict in some way (being involved in a disagreement, managing a conflict between co-workers, etc.) For the US alone, that translates to 385 million working days spent every year as a result of workplace conflict.

It is also a major drain on the resources of HR departments: half of the HR workers questioned (51%) spend between one and five hours a week managing disagreements. The crucial issue is not whether conflict, disagreement, and difficult people can be avoided; the real concern is how they can be dealt with that will lead to positive outcomes. If managed improperly, businesses’ productivity, operational effectiveness, and morale take a major hit. On the other hand, when channeled through the right tools and expertise, conflict can lead to a better understanding of others, improved solutions to problems or challenges, and major innovation.

• Identify the top six causes of conflict and which one produces the most problems
• Understand the iceberg concept of conflict – what’s above and below the waterline
• Define five conflict management styles and match each style to different conflict situations
• Decide if you’re a shark or a turtle or a teddy bear or a fox or owl in how you handle conflict
• Learn how to keep your cool and react professionally in the heat of the moment
• Learn the language of positive communication to reduce negative emotions, especially anger

The focus of this webinar is how to deal with the inevitable conflicts, difficult people, and situations that occur in the workplace so that it leads to positive outcomes both for the people involved and the organization. These six points will be covered:

• Myths and facts about the conflict
• Conflict is both constructive and destructive
• The symptoms of conflict: What do you see and hear?
• Real-world conflict situation and how it was resolved
• The six tips to resolve conflict positively so that it sticks
• The next step: Action planning and implementation

The differences that cause conflict: are perceptual, informational, procedural, goal, role, and personality.

Conflict is an inevitable part of life.  No matter how hard you try, it can seem that there will always be something that causes you or someone around you to be frustrated, angry, and impatient – or a whole host of other not-so-pleasant emotions.

Conflict arises when the people we work with have different ideas, perspectives, backgrounds, values, goals, or expectations. Yes, conflict can be destructive! It diverts energy from more im­portant ac­tivities and issues, it po­larizes people and re­duces co­op­eration, and it can produce irresponsi­ble be­havior. Conflict can be construc­tive! It opens up and improves commu­nication, it strength­ens working relationships and team­work, and it leads to better quality decisions and prob­lem so­lutions.

The ability to handle conflict and difficult situations is a great leadership skill. When you are confident in your people management skills, you don’t have to be afraid of disagreement. You don’t have to back away from problems. Instead, you can confidently face the confrontation and bring the issue out into the open. Well-managed conflict actually stimulates, ideas, sparks creativity, and encourages personal improvement. Conflict by itself is nei­ther good nor bad. It’s the way you handle conflict that produces con­structive or destructive results.

• CEO’s
• COO’s
• VP of Human Resources
• Chief Learning Officer
• Directors
• Project Managers
• Operation Managers and Supervisors
• Team Leaders
• Human Resources Professionals
• New Managers
• Supervisors

Marcia Zidle is a board-certified executive coach, business management consultant and keynote speaker, who helps organizations to leverage their leadership and human capital assets. She has 25 years of management, business consulting and international experience in a variety of industries including healthcare, financial services, oil and gas, manufacturing, insurance, pharmaceuticals, hospitality,government, and nonprofits.She brings expertise in strategy and alignment; social and emotional intelligence; executive and team leadership; employee engagement and innovation; personal and organization change management. She has been selected one of LinkedIn Profinder’s top coaches for the past 5 years.