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Leadership Trait that Assist in Management of Conflict

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Leadership Trait that Assist in Management of Conflict

Introduction

Conflict in any set-up or organization is inevitable(Faith & Blessing, 2018). Conflict is defined as a state of strife, lack of harmony or agreement, and can be caused by differences in needs, interests, and values between employees. Conflict is not good for an organization because it slows down the decision-making process and destroys the best team-work practices. Therefore, it is important to manage conflicts in organizations as it arises. Conflicts should be embraced and addressed in time. To efficiently resolve and manage conflict, leaders must; Listen carefully and with respect, give room for others to express themselves, scrutinize the cause, know how to prioritize and know how to negotiate in solving the conflict. Key traits in managing conflicts include:

Communication

To resolve and manage conflicts, leaders must be accessible, friendly and have a sense of direction. Key trait skill in leadership that leaders must have is clear communication in conflict management. Strong communication, in this case, is not only talking, but also listening. Leaders should be able to clearly listen so as to find the origin of the conflict, asking questions and clearly communicate on how to solve it amicably. Communication skills entail; reading and finding non-verbal cues, understanding when to keep quiet and when to talk, and being able to explain a concept clearly and concisely.

Problem-solving skills come hand in hand with communication, it allows the leaders to approach conflict objectively and coming up with a solution that will have taken care of all the differences in interest as well as views of the parties affected. Leaders should know how to talk and communicate with their employees, and employees on the hand should know how to talk to each other.

Strategy for Improving Communication within an Organization

Effective communication is essential for the success of an organization, improved and timely internal communication is good for the organization in meeting targets and in making timely decisions. Leaders can improve communication within the company by putting down good strategies as well as use using available tools. Leaders can exploit the following strategies for improving workplace communication.

Undivided attention – It is always good for leaders to give full attention to those that they lead and must keep eye contact with the persons they are talking with and even in meetings. Leaders should stay focused, to attract the full attention of their employees and encourages them to stick to what is being discussed. It is also important to check on employees on regular basis on work-related matters.

Taking time to listen – Leaders should take time to listen to the ideas and views of the employees or team to avoid monopolizing the conversation. Taking the time to listen to employees makes them feel valued and have a sense of feeling. The conversation should be simple and respectful, use of fillers and fluffy words is not good. A leader can improve communication by minding how he or she communicates, leaders should choose their words while communicating. The tone and body language contribute immensely in communication and leaders should be relaxed, maintain eye contact and nodding while listening. The conversation should be informative and inspiring to the employees.

Following up – Leaders can follow up on meetings and other conversations through writing. For meetings, a designated person takes notes and latter send to the team as a refresher and follow-up notes. This will keep information fresh in employees’ minds.

Methods for Motivating Employees and Improving Behaviors within the Workplace

A motivated workforce is important in an organization. Motivation improves organizational performance(Dobre, 2013) by improving employees’ output. Motivation inspires, makes employees involved and improves and changes employees’ behavior towards good performance. Leaders employ the following methods in motivating employees.

Rewards

Rewards can take several forms from annual trips, monetary and gifts and are given to top-performing employees. To effectively motivate employees, rewards should be made achievable and should not only be annually and worth the effort. Basis of the rewards should vary and should not go to the same employee always.

Praise Publicly and Correct Privately

Employees feel good, people love praises, and improve their performance if praised publicly. Leaders can utilize this by praising, recognizing and celebrating performing employees in front of the other employees will help in motivating the less performing ones. When it comes to correction, employees should be corrected in private. People don’t like negative comments especially in front of others, and leaders should consider correcting employees as a learning process or opportunity of the employee and not a punitive process.

Aligning Employees’ Goals

Aligning personal goals to organizational goals helps in motivating employees. Employees who understand the organization‘s goals will perform better than those who don’t understand or feels the goals are dishonest.

Reference

Dobre, O.-I. (2013). Employee motivation and organizational performance. Review of applied socio-economic research, 5(1).

Faith, O. M., & Blessing, M. T. (2018). Causes of Conflict Among Peer Co-Workers in a Non-Governmental Organisation in Kenya. Science Research, 6(5), 54.