Prevention

 It goes without saying that prevention is the best way to avoid workplace conflicts. Prevention efforts may include establishing a positive and respectful environment, training personnel on policies, establishing proper complaint submission procedures, and conducting period check-ins to receive face-to-face feedback.

Countless workplace disputes have played out after suppressed tensions finally boiled over, catching managers and supervisors off-guard if they weren’t aware of the underlying problems. That is why organizations are encouraged to conduct workplace climate assessments to tease out such issues. As noted by TRACC, there is “widespread consensus that climate fundamentally forms the soul of the organization and can significantly influence employee performance and attitude.” Organizations should pay heed.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also offers resources to help mitigate workplace conflicts and violence. Their tools can help with identifying risk factors, establishing prevention programs, training, enforcement, and more.

However, all the prevention protocols in the world can’t stop every disagreement from escalating. Sometimes employers, managers, and supervisors simply have to play the cards they are dealt and do their best to mitigate real-time problems before they get out of hand. We recommend packing these handy tips in your toolkit to whip out when the need arises.

Thought-stopping 

In the world of psychology, the cognitive-behavioral technique of “thought-stopping” has often been recommended for patients who continually entertain negative thoughts. Per Healthline, the aim of thought-stopping is “to disrupt negative thinking patterns and redirect thoughts to something that helps relieve distress.”

The most basic form of thought-stopping is to say the word “Stop!” in a firm tone. This simple trick can temporarily disrupt one’s thought patterns long enough that they may literally pause everything they’re doing. Sometimes that pause is all it takes for a person to reflect on their actions and recognize if their behavior is inappropriate.

While this technique isn’t necessarily effective for all situations, it’s certainly worth a shot in a moment of crisis. Essentially, it is the human equivalent of rebooting a computer that’s acting up. Maybe it’ll fix the issue, maybe it won’t — but at least it’s a good first step.

Temporary separation

When tempers are flared up, many times the best thing you can do is get the aggrieved parties away from each other as fast as possible.

Every situation is different so there may be times when a conflict seems to be more one-sided, meaning one person is being aggressive or hostile while the other is less so. Still, for all sides to save face, it may be unwise to put the more aggressive person on a “time out.” Instead, consider asking both sides to take a break…a break where they go in opposite directions.

During this break period, Harvard Business Review recommends brokering a détente. “Don’t rush to sit them down together,” HBR suggests. “There are likely be asymmetries in their power or their abilities and you risk causing further damage to the relationship.”

Thus, there is no one-size-fits-all rule to how long the temporary separation of parties should last. Sometimes a few minutes is enough; other times, you might have to sit down with each employee first to discuss if anyone felt threatened or harassed. Organizations should definitely avoid putting two workers back into close contact if one of them feels unsafe.

Not taking sides (right away)

Before you jump in the middle of a verbal sparring at work, understand that anything you say could inadvertently throw gas on the fire. This can be especially true if you happen to have a closer relationship with one worker than the other, because of the perception of favoritism or bias.

Unless the conflict is blatantly one-sided or one worker is being berated, you don’t want to storm into the situation and start making judgments right away. There’s plenty of time for that after things have cooled down.

As noted by Slack, when attempting to de-escalate, “It’s more important to listen than to talk, and to ask questions instead of providing answers.”

Keep others out of it (at first)

Nothing seems to escalate an incident faster than when others rush in to shout support for one side or another. Just as you don’t want to personally fan the flames of a dispute, you also want to keep other people from making the same mistake in the heat of the moment. Unless an employee is in danger that requires a physical response, adding more angry voices may only make the situation worse.

There will be plenty of time later for debriefing anyone who wants to add their opinions. In fact, if an incident is severe enough, it’s vital to bring in such employees who may have witnessed what occurred, or anyone who has additional information pertinent to the story.