Conflict Management Starts With Frontline Employees

Workplace conflict is unavoidable. Whether that conflict benefits or costs organizations depends on how it’s managed.

We often think of conflict management in the workplace as a leadership skill, leaning heavily on bosses and HR departments to smooth the inevitable wrinkles that occur in workplaces filled with people of all generations, widely divergent views and backgrounds. But, by training frontline employees, organizations empower them to build stronger interpersonal relationships, enabling them to positively navigate conflict in its infancy, seek win-win outcomes, take conflict less personally and feel the need to involve managers or HR  less frequently.

In most cases, it’s the employees who are in the best position to deal with conflict in its early stages before it builds into something bigger. But because we treat conflict management as a leadership or HR responsibility, the employees who most need these skills are often ill-equipped to handle these interactions, which can lead to the bigger problem: conflict avoidance.

We see evidence in workplace interactions at every level: An experienced employee expects a certain amount of autonomy, but instead feels smothered when a new authoritarian manager “breathes down her neck.” A dissatisfied customer complains to a salesperson, angry over not getting the services promised and for being “duped.” A minority customer service professional feels left out as discussions for an online customer solution proceed without him even though he feels he’s the closest to the situation. Instead of respectfully questioning the unexpected criticism received during a performance review, a young worker starts acting passive-aggressively, withholding information and posting anonymously on social media.

Michele Markey, General Manager of Training Operations at SkillPath, shares her thoughts in this article on Forbes.com on why and how employees should be trained on conflict management in the workplace.