Saturday, April 6, 2013
Disagreements and Conflict Resolution
In any fast paced environment like the work place, disagreements are bound to happen. When disagreements arise it is okay to disagree on the points-of-view; however, it is necessary to respect the person. The Center for Nonviolent Communication (n.d.) has two skills that I believe would be particularly effective in workplace confrontations. The first is to differentiate between observation and evaluation. I think that if we learn to just listen to what the other person is saying, without adding our judgments we can begin to "understand" them. This will allow for communication to be open and honest. The other skill is to learn to honestly request wheat we would like in a way that clearly and specifically states what we want. For example, if I were to say that "I do not like it when you yell at me. Instead, I would rather you talk to me in a calm voice," I would let the other person know what I want out of the communication situation. I think if we were to implement these two ideas communication situations would improve greatly.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Joseph I agree that effective listening is an essential ingredient in helping to resolve conflicts as well as being able to stay calm. I find your statement about differentiating between observation and evaluation an interesting concept. City and Elmore (as cited by Fullan, 2010) sum up the principles of observation as "description before analyses, analysis before prediction, prediction before evaluation." While this was directly aimed at guidelines for observations, it can also be used when trying to resolve conflict.
ReplyDeleteReference
Fullan, M. (2010a). Motion Leadership: The skinny on becoming change savvy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Joseph, I enjoyed your post. It reminded me of a strategy a former supervisor often used when issues were brought to her attention. After listening, she would clarify the grievance and then ask the person what they would like to see change or what should happen next? I believe there is value in engaging the person who has identified the issue in proposing a fair solution. There are individuals who are simply happy to dump problems on supervisors and then relinquish responsibility.
ReplyDelete