Conflict resolution

All these scenarios (and others) can cause conflict in the workplace. And often it’s the safety professional who contends with it – whether directly or indirectly.

This is where conflict resolution, a valuable soft skill, comes into play.

“It’s a skill set that the safety professional needs to master because those scenarios happen every day,” said Kelley Norris, vice president of implementation services at SafeStart. “In a lot of ways, safety pros are the voice of the employee to the organization, and they’re the voice of the organization to the employee. They’re building bridges, not fences.”

Conflict is so common that the Society for Human Resource Management last year launched its Civility Index to track trends of uncivil behavior in both workplaces and society. It found that workers collectively experience 190 million acts of incivility a day.

Victoria Neal, an HR knowledge advisor at SHRM, said conflict derives from “a person’s inability to handle what’s happening in their life, whether it’s stress or the stress of the job. It comes out in various ways.”

How to approach conflict

Veteran safety pro Richard Hawk – who’s also a motivational safety speaker, author, podcast host and Safety+Health columnist – is familiar with conflict, having also worked as a freelance mediator.

“Conflict resolution is a very important skill for safety professionals in the field,” Hawk said. “A big part of your job is telling people they’re doing something wrong. They might think they’re not. They might think it’s a stupid rule. That’s a conflict. That’s where you need skills.”

The most important part of solving conflict? Allowing all parties “to tell their story, get their viewpoint out completely,” he said. “I make sure that each group not only gets all the time they need, but I come back and ask, ‘Is this what you mean?’”

Along with being able to effectively listen and understand all sides of a conflict, it’s important to know that ego and emotions can derail progress toward a resolution, Hawk added. “A lot of times during a conflict, we listen to somebody and think, ‘Well, how can I say something that makes it so I win?’ If you can listen to get the story and not put your win/lose ego into it, sometimes it really gets resolved well.

“I don’t really care whether I’m right or wrong – I just want to make sure that what people are doing is as safe as possible. Those who don’t do a good job of conflict resolution, it’s because they want to be proven right. That’s not really the purpose of our profession.

“Emotions will cause conflict to fail more than any other single thing. Emotions get rid of logic.”

Learn, then react

To Neal, training and education can help safety professionals understand a worker’s emotions during a conflict.

“They’ve got to learn that this is all coming from the emotional state of that person at that time,” she said, “and that could be coming from various different places. They could be very anxious. They could be very upset.”

Amid all the emotions that workers are experiencing, a safety pro shouldn’t take attacks personally.

Neal recommends three approaches.

First, determine whether a conversation is adequate to resolve the issue. “Can we talk this out?” is a good question to ask.

The second is understanding if the person’s anger has taken over. “Can we cut this off and get back to the communication phase, or do we need a cooling off?” Neal suggests.

The biggest concern is whether the situation is too dangerous for everyone involved.

“If there’s danger, it’s OK to say, ‘This is a dangerous situation and maybe we need to step out of this,’” Neal said. “That would be the best resolution. It’s not failure that you didn’t handle it right there.”

This way, finding additional help to manage the conflict and allowing everyone time to cool down can be beneficial. Hawk added that resolution is best when all parties “agree to do something that solves all or part of the problem.”

Keep an open mind

Generational differences are common factors in workplace conflicts because of preferred communication and work styles, Norris noted.

This can include seasoned workers who have “always done it this way” and may push back when changes are made because “nothing’s ever happened,” she said. Meanwhile, younger workers “bring this new innovation and creativity to the workplace” but lack the valuable, real-world experience that older workers possess.

It’s another reason why safety pros should enter conversations involving conflict with intent.

“Approach conversations with an open mind, with a no-blame mindset, mutual purpose, good intentions, asking open-ended questions, listening,” Norris said.

The benefits of conflict resolution

Safety pros and other organizational leaders should model the behaviors they want to see in all employees.

“Practice what you preach,” Norris said. “Set the standard by doing it yourself and hold others accountable as well.”

The benefits span all levels of an organization. Workers are safer and more likely to bring solutions to safety pros and safety committees, while organizations gain a stronger culture.

“You’re cultivating your culture,” Neal said. “Once the culture is happy, then there’s a lot less conflict. There’s a lot less turnover. There’s more engagement.”