Conflict Resolution: A Key Job Requirement for Your Supervisors

With the high costs of litigation, mediation is an increasingly popular way to deal with conflicts at work. However, “there are times when mediation does not work,” says attorney Stephen R. Marsh on his website, adrr.com. Here are situations he suggests where mediation will fail.

Procedural Problems

1. Lack of settlement authority. Those with authority must attend in order for the process to work.
2. Lack of preparation. Typically, this describes a party to a case who does not know enough about their own case to be able to settle it.
3. Hostile and incompatible attorneys.

Surveys say your supervisors are likely to deal with conflict for over an hour every day! Have them attend our webinar on conflict resolution for supervisors this Thursday.

Special Problems

Certain other situations spell doom for mediation, says Marsh:

1. Where one side is engaged in litigation with the primary intention of bleeding the other side with expenses, mediation is not fruitful. It will be seen as one more opportunity to impose costs on the opposing party.
2. Where an uninsured defendant faces catastrophic liquidity problems.
3. Where one side is mentally unable to appreciate the legitimacy or the limits of the other side’s position.
4. Where one side is completely in the wrong, but hopes to obtain the benefit of mediation’s push to compromise.

It Works Most of the Time

Nevertheless, Marsh notes, an 85 percent overall success rate for mediation suggests that there are many, many times that the process does work. And even when mediation fails to help the parties reach agreement, he notes, it often educates the parties and helps them move forward.

Conflict resolved. People back to work. Sound too good to be true? Have your supervisors attend Conflict Management Techniques for Supervisors, our in-depth webinar this Thursday. Click here to sign up or preorder the CD.

Conflict Happens

It’s a fact that conflicts at work are inevitable. When they do erupt, do your supervisors know how to “mediate” and resolve them? Most don’t — and that lets minor conflicts morph into significant, maybe even violent, ones.

From hurtful gossip to co-worker flare-ups, workplace conflicts can quickly drain energy and destroy morale. That means decreased productivity, unnecessary distractions for your supervisors, and higher costs and legal risks for your organization.

Your frontline managers must be ready to step in and nip conflicts in the bud. But they need to be trained on how to do this effectively.

Bring your supervisors along for our 90-minute webinar this Thursday, April 21, when our expert speaker will share proven strategies to diagnose and defuse conflicts on the job. Together, you’ll learn:

• Why it’s important to address workplace conflicts immediately, before they fester into costly legal claims or chase away your best employees
• How to recognize brewing conflicts — and how to initiate those early conversations that can head off trouble before it starts
• The questions you should ask when handling a conflict (and the questions you should never ask)
• How to establish an atmosphere of trust in your unit or department that can mitigate serious conflicts ahead of time
• The dos and don’ts of providing constructive criticism in the workplace
• What you can do to prevent minor disagreements from transforming into major free-for-alls that turn off the rest of your workers
• How to get to the root causes of a conflict (especially if it’s not work-related)

Sign up now!

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