Business and stress recommendations for a manager on maintaining a climate in a team from a conflictologist
It should be noted that the organization in business is always built around certain goals and interests. The community of people representing the organization directs their activities to fulfill the goals and objectives of the organization.
It is especially important to prevent conflicts in the organization from increasing employee stress and destroying the climate and mutual understanding that has developed within the team.
In such stressful conditions, the most important thing for a manager is to work with contradictions and disagreements in the team. First of all, it is necessary to understand that a conflict can be both a driver of progress in an organization and a catastrophe that brings continuous costs. Working with conflict is one of the most important skills of a modern manager, says conflictologist Gleb Trufanov .
A leader is a person responsible for the integration of a team and its efforts, as well as a person with authority and the ability to manage the climate in a team.
Recommendations
1) Monitor the emotional state of employees. Stress, anxiety, anger can be easily noticed through lack of focus and loss of productivity. If you see violations in some processes, pay attention to the people who ensure these processes.
2) Talk to your subordinates. Anxiety and strong emotions are hard to hide and not to talk about at all. Talk and collect information. Find out what worries employees and whether there is a pattern.
3) Know your limits when criticizing employees' actions. And if you criticize, criticize their actions, not their personality.
4) Don't build walls between yourself and the team. The organization's problem is the team's problem, and therefore the manager's problem.
5) Create situations for switching attention. Joint team building activities, such as a meeting over board games or an evening of self-presentations with friendly gatherings and snacks, will allow you to relieve tension and just be human. Events to build an atmosphere of support and understanding in the team are very important during stressful periods. Positive impressions and memories accumulated during such events will serve as a “safe” place for employees, giving them confidence in the support of the team.
6) Build constructive communication in the team, which will allow you to move from “what do I want?” to “why do I want this?/why is this important to me?” These are the questions that will help clarify the interests of employees and their needs.
7) If you notice a conflict between employees, do not avoid the problem. Use your authority to gather information about existing contradictions, analyze the situation, assess the risks and decide whether to enter the conflict as a third party or not.
8) One of the main tasks of a manager is risk management. Assessing the risks associated with certain conflicts is very important.
If the situation gets out of control, then it is worth considering involving specialist mediators (conflictologists who specialize in preparing and conducting constructive negotiations) in the conflict and conducting a mediation or negotiation procedure.
