Conflict resolution skills are one of the most important skills that you can gain and learn in your lifetime. Learning and developing your ability to resolve issues that brought one or several parties into a conflict can be very helpful in everyday life and business.
People always develop conflicts between each other and most of the time when the conflict is developed they tend to turn away without solving it. In many cases small conflicts bring more issues than expected; eventually, they grow and develop into bigger arguments and lead to the end of relationships and/or partnerships.
Conflict resolution skills can be used in everyday life whether it is work, business, or personal issues. The skills are fully transferable and can be used in different situations. This post will briefly outline the main solutions to conflict resolution.
Stay relaxed and calm
Try not to tense up and oppose the other party or parties. The more you try to go against or tense up the more complicated the situation gets, you will only be bringing more issues to the table. Bringing more issues without resolving the previous one will get you into a worthy position because then you would have to talk about more topics and everything is going to get mixed. By staying relaxed and calm you can actually filter your thoughts and words without saying them before you think.
Don’t be afraid to speak out
You will only be able to resolve the issues by participating in the conversation. Your thoughts must be clear, short, and relevant. They should outline the problem straight forward and deliver the solution or the idea that you are proposing. Your message must be clear and detailed. Avoid complex or vague messages as they tend to complex the situation by delivering an incorrect message to the listener and breaking the channel of communication.
Accepting your fault
If you are the faultier make sure you admit it! It is not a matter of being right even if you are wrong; it’s a matter of establishing a good channel of communication. Admit your fault with an apology and your opponent will be glad to accept it and continue talking to you.
In addition, the majority of people do not expect opposing parties to apologize in the conflict and usually think that you’ll be trying to prove your point regardless of anything. You can use this trick to gain an unconscious advantage over your opponent.
Never use abusive language
Never and never use any abusive language that can potentially harm someone and make someone very uncomfortable and unwilling to talk to you. The last thing you want to do is to make the opposing party withdraw from the conversation with you. By implying abusive language you will be definitely making your opposing party very uncomfortable and either giving a green light to use the same type of conversational style as you use or simply refusing to speak with you and being willing to get out.
Consider other points of view
Be open-minded and open yourself to the other party’s thoughts. You cannot rely solely on your own thoughts and will, you might be wrong. You should always listen to the message that someone is trying to direct to you, because avoiding it, is probably what brought you to the issue in the first place.
Involve the third party
If you have a chance and the right person tries to involve him/her in the conflict. The person should have the role of the judge without being biased towards a specific party. The third-party should distance itself from both parties but allocate itself to the actual conflict trying to understand what had been appended.
Conflict resolution is one of the amazing skills that one can develop and use. There are many conflict resolution consultants that make living out of providing their help to the corporate environment helping to resolve employee conflicts, business conflicts, and partner conflicts. Conflict resolution skills are good to have as they will be helping you to develop your personal skill set and use them in every environment, whether it is home, business, or work.
