Your leadership role requires that you help the supervisors who report to you resolve conflict among their employees. The following advice will help you be successful in this unique oversight role.

The first step toward resolving conflict is helping the manager to analyze the situation and decide whether (and how) to intervene. Options include a decision to simply monitor the conflict or proactively work with one or both of the employees in an active
resolution effort.

At this stage, your role is to work with the manager to help them consider their interests and expectations, along with the organization’s. Logical questions include:

• Is productivity being adversely affected?
• Are core boundaries or policies being violated?
• Do the employees have the capacity and motivation to work through it
  themselves?

If there is a decision to intervene, you can help the manager strategize about meeting with one or both employees to provide support and encourage them to resolve the conflict directly. You should coach the manager to engage with both employees using effective communication skills, such as listening for understanding and asking open- ended questions. In turn, the manager should encourage the employees to be fully present, deeply listen, and remain genuinely curious as they engage with each other.  The manager’s role is to work with each employee to understand their point of view, offer encouragement, and apply moderate pressure to encourage them to work through the problem on their own.

While coaching employees, remember that people end up in conflict because they hold different points of view. The more they believe that their stated positions in the conflict are the only way to meet their needs, the more adamantly they will hold to them and act destructively. In contrast, an interest-centered approach provides leverage to resolve position-based conflict by looking beneath each employee’s point of view to reveal their true needs. This unearthing of mutually acceptable solutions, via interests, is precisely what you’ll help the manager explore with employees to get beyond the conflict.

In many cases, employees who have been queued up for success through individual coaching can resolve disputes without their manager’s direct participation. Still, the manager should support a good outcome by projecting confidence that the employees can have a constructive dialogue and negotiation. The employees should report their results to the manager, who will either continue to oversee the changes and commitments or determine that the employees cannot resolve the conflict on their own.

Even when the manager is not in the room as employees work through their concerns, they remain an active participant by staying informed about the employees’ efforts. The manager’s role is to stay alert, stay on top of developments, and maintain a spirit of helpfulness.

If the preceding steps fail to resolve the issues, then the manager—or you—can mediate. No matter what role the manager plays, it is important to remember that management’s role is not to provide “the answer” but to set parameters and expectations, and then coach employees through an introspective and problem-solving process that leads to understanding and resolution.

However, if the situation calls for something further, In-Accord is here if you need help.