How to Improve Your Team’s Conflict Resolution Skills

Having conflict resolution skills in your toolbelt is a necessity. While some folks are naturally skilled when it comes to resolving conflict, others need a bit of dedicated practice.

In our comprehensive guide, we’ll give you everything you need to know about conflict resolution, including what it is, how you and your team can develop effective strategies, examples of what this can look like, and tips for how to efficiently practice these skills.

What Is Conflict Resolution?

Conflict resolution refers to the way in which we learn to navigate and resolve conflict in our personal and professional relationships. If you don’t resolve the conflict in your life, it’ll continue to fester and manifest in different unpleasant ways. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to manage conflict when it crops up.

What is conflict? 

Conflict is an argument or disagreement between people with different opinions. For example, conflict can be caused by factors like: 

• Breakdowns in communication 
• A past history of disagreements
• Unmet needs
• Differences in personality
• Power imbalances

Conflict is a normal part of life. However, people often need to put in work to understand how to resolve issues in a healthy way. It doesn’t always come naturally, and many people fear or try to steer clear of conflict altogether. 

What are conflict resolution skills?

Conflict resolution skills are the strategies and techniques folks use to mitigate or manage conflict among people. These are skills that help people find solutions that can benefit both parties. 

Skills like critical thinking, emotional regulation, and self-awareness can all help when it comes to conflict resolution. 

Why are conflict resolution skills important? 

Conflict resolution skills are important to develop because they help people live a functional life full of healthy relationships. Without conflict resolution skills, people are unable to keep up personal and professional relationships. 

For teams, conflict resolution skills can help create a more positive, non-toxic work environment. 

Ingredients for Developing Conflict Resolution Skills

There’s no secret formula for developing solid conflict resolution skills, but there are components that’ll help folks build these skills more easily. Here are some key ingredients when it comes to developing your team’s conflict resolution skills. 

Emotional intelligence

One of the most essential components of developing conflict resolution skills is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence refers to the ability of someone to not just manage their own emotions but also understand the emotions of others around them. The main elements of emotional intelligence include empathy, motivation, social skills, self-regulation, and self-awareness.

Because emotional intelligence is a spectrum, some folks on your team might fall on the lower end of the spectrum while others have a higher emotional intelligence. To further develop your emotional intelligence, you can:

• Consider your own strengths and weaknesses so you know when to ask for help
• Sit with your emotions before reacting
• Make an effort to better understand nonverbal cues and communication

Problem-solving skills

Not surprisingly, problem-solving skills are a key ingredient in conflict resolution skills development. This includes a person’s ability to pinpoint and make a plan to solve problems that crop up. People use problem-solving skills in both their personal and professional lives. 

Folks who have good problem-solving skills often have some characteristics in common, such as: 

• Having an analytical mindset
• Fostering collaboration among others
• Leveraging critical thinking to brainstorm solutions
• Always paying close attention to detail

Self-awareness

At its core, self-awareness is a person’s ability to understand their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and how they can affect others. Having some self-awareness comes with a whole host of benefits, like the ability to make smarter choices, be a better leader, and foster healthy relationships in your personal and professional lives. It goes hand-in-hand with emotional intelligence. 

Some examples of how self-awareness can manifest include:

• Acknowledging and anticipating how you might react to various scenarios
• Knowing how others perceive you
• Being able to clearly communicate your needs and beliefs
• Recognizing your personal triggers

Efficient communication skills

Last but not least, effective communication skills are a must when it comes to being able to develop your team’s conflict resolution skills. In order to start resolving conflict, you and your team need to be able to communicate clearly and efficiently so nothing gets lost in translation. 

5 Essential Conflict Resolution Strategies Your Team Should Know

There are many ways to go about developing skills for resolving conflict. From working on empathy to negotiation tactics and mediation, the list of possible strategies is a long one. Here are five essential conflict resolution skills and strategies your team should know.

Empathy 

Learning how to be empathetic and empathize with others comes very naturally for some people. For others, it’s a learned skill that takes years of practice. If you and your team are learning how to be more empathetic, one of the most straightforward ways to do that is by putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. This is a metaphor for learning to consider the other person’s perspective (AKA, “walking in their shoes”) and their emotions. Try to understand where they may be coming from. 

Part of being empathic is knowing how to properly validate their feelings, even if you feel like you disagree with them. Acknowledging their emotions without placing unnecessary judgment is the way to go. For example, letting the person know that you hear them and that their feelings are legitimate is a simple way to validate them. Learning how to listen with empathy is key.

At the end of the day, being able to show compassion for another person is a great way to show empathy. In workplaces, for example, compassion can get lost in the wayside because employees are focused on other things that feel more pressing. Showing that you care for someone’s well-being goes a long way. 

Negotiation

One of the most popular conflict resolution skills is negotiation. With negotiation, both parties will talk about their disagreement and try to find a middle ground where they can reach some sort of agreement. 

When improving your team’s conflict resolution skills, make sure they’re well-versed in negotiation. A good place to start is pinpointing both parties’ goals. What do you want to achieve and how does that compare to what they’d like to achieve? This is where empathy can come in, specifically when it comes to trying to see things from their perspective. 

Once both goals are laid out, you can use common negotiation techniques to come to an agreement. Negotiation strategies include things like trading, problem-solving, and bargaining. 

Active listening

It’s also important for teams to have solid active listening skills when it comes to conflict resolution skill development. People like to feel heard and passively listening isn’t going to cut it, especially if conflict has arisen. 

To be a better listener, encourage your team to devote their full attention to the other person. Make sure they don’t interrupt and make good eye contact as they can. Showing signs that you’re actively listening — like nodding or using affirmatives like “uh huh” and “right” — can go a long way. 

You can also have your team practice paraphrasing what the speaker said to them. During conflict resolution, this can help avoid any misinterpretations or miscommunications. Saying something like, “So, your goal is to find a solution that addresses these issues — have I got that right?” can provide an opportunity for the person to either confirm or restate their message for best results. Asking questions to clarify can also be a sign of an active listener. 

Compromise

Both compromise and negotiation go hand-in-hand, and they both revolve around finding a middle ground. Compromise emphasizes the importance of the “give and take” — AKA, being willing to explore solutions that work to address the needs of parties.

Honing in on common ground is one effective strategy. That way, you can build your solution based on both parties’ needs and expectations. It’s easier said than done, but working with your team on compromise can elevate their conflict resolution skills.

Mediation

Mediation is another tool in your team’s conflict resolution skills toolkit. With mediation, there’s a third party involved who acts as a neutral mediator to make communication easier and help both parties come to an agreement. 

Instead of pointing fingers, focus instead on the problem at hand. Having a mediator can create a safe space for everyone to discuss and problem-solve. They can also foster more honest, open communication, making it easier to resolve conflict.

How to Improve Your Team’s Conflict Resolution Skills With Yoodli 

If you want to boost your team’s conflict resolution skills, leveraging a tool like Yoodli can make a huge difference. Yoodli is an AI-driven communication coach that offers realistic roleplay for conversation and communication practice. No matter what industry you work in, you can use this tool to improve your team’s conflict resolution skills.

Yoodli provides an AI-generated conversation partner whose personality you can choose to work on resolving conflict with different types of people. After the conversation, users will get actionable insights based on how the conversation went so they can work on improving their communication when it comes to conflict resolution. This allows folks to practice working on empathy, active listening, and negotiation all within a completely safe space.  

Your team will get insights into the way they communicate, especially when it comes to using inclusive language, filler words, and word choice. 

Learn more about how you can start improving your team’s conflict resolution skills with Yoodli for free at https://yoodli.ai/.

What Conflict Resolution Can Look Like

Conflict resolution looks different depending on the situation. For example, interpersonal familial conflict resolution will look different from conflict resolution in the workplace. Here are some examples of conflict resolution and what that can look like. 

Conflict resolution in the workplace

Coming across conflict resolution in the workplace is pretty common. Teams constantly lean into their conflict resolution skills to address issues within teams, across teams, or with clients. 

Facing conflict in the workplace without any resolution skills can have negative effects, however. Workplaces that don’t teach conflict resolution skills often have lower productivity rates, all of which can lead to consequences like quiet quitting. 

What conflict resolution in the workplace looks like depends on the company, but there are usually a few commonalities. For example, skills and strategies like active listening, finding compromise, negotiation, and using effective communication are all commonly seen in workplaces during times of conflict. Mediation via a human resources (HR) team is also pretty typical depending on the exact type of conflict. 

Cultural differences in conflict resolution 

Conflict resolution skills can look different because of cultural differences, too. That’s because resolving conflict doesn’t look the same in every culture. Understanding the cultural nuances at play that go into resolving conflict is essential and contributes to a more equitable conversation.

When it comes to understanding these nuances, the first step is acknowledging and respecting how belief systems and values differ across cultures. This includes using inclusive language and understanding that cultural differences can directly influence someone’s communication style.

For example, nonverbal communication cues like hand gestures can vary by culture. What’s acceptable in one culture — like crossing your fingers for good luck — can actually be offensive in another culture. 

When adjusting your conflict resolution skills to another person’s cultural norms, it’s a good idea to have a mediator from that culture to ensure communication is smooth. 

The Bottom Line 

Learning how to improve your team’s conflict resolution skills is well worth the effort put in. No matter what industry you work in, conflict resolution represents a critical skill, and Yoodli can help your team boost their abilities to solve conflict in a safe space using AI-powered roleplay. 

Sources

• HelpGuide: “Conflict Resolution Skills.”
• Mental Health America: “What is emotional intelligence and how does it apply to the workplace?”
• Harvard Law School: “Conflict Negotiation,” “How to Resolve Cultural Conflict: Overcoming Cultural Barriers at the Negotiation Table.”
• Indeed: “7 Conflict Resolution Skills (And How To Use Them at Work).”