9 Tips for Avoiding Conflict with Coworkers
Love them or hate them, you can’t ignore them. You have to begin your day in the morning with them. You have to end your day with them. They could be your worse enemies. But the same people also will be your best friends. These are the people you simply cannot live without. They are the family your job gave you. They are your coworkers. You spend more time with them than you spend with your own family. Hence it is important to avoid conflicts so that you are always surrounded by non-haters. But conflicts at work are often unavoidable. They are a concurrent with professional life. While some people are magnets for conflict, there are others who manage to avoid disagreements with coworkers for decades. How do they do it? Here are some tips for avoiding conflicts with coworkers.
1. Count till ten
This is a well-known method to calm yourself when angry. Probably the most awful mistake you can make during conflicts is losing your head in anger and saying something you will wish you didn’t later. When you feel you are losing your temper, take a deep breath and start counting till ten. It will help you to calm down and when you are done, things will feel so much more in your control.
2. Work on a problem right away
A comment real nasty or a joke crossed limits is enough to trigger anger in you. Hence if you don’t like something a coworker has said, tell them in a calm and polite manner immediately. It is the most professional thing to do. If you ignore it, these small things might build up and grow into something bad. Hence, when you have an issue, nip in the bud and work the problem head first.
3. Do not make a big deal
If you have an issue to be addressed, calmly speak alone to the person concerned. The most unprofessional thing you could do is to over-react and make yourself seem like a cry-baby. Calmly ask yourself this question, “Is this issue really troubling me or am I displacing the anger of my personal problems on someone at work?” And even if there is an issue worth talking about, be very clear, peaceful and calm by the method you choose to tackle it.
4. Stay away from gossip
Professional relations are extremely significant for a person to work productively and efficiently. Employees who interact with their coworkers, yet know where to draw the line, tend to develop better trust and respect with their peers. Gossips lead to rumors which over a course of time act like slow poison in companies. You may think you are the one gossiping about another coworker, but sooner than you know it, you will be the one others will be gossiping about too. Hence as far as possible, stay away from gossip.
5. Learn how to find the middle ground
You don’t need to bend down every time and let another coworker dominate you and get their way. However, you most certainly don’t have to go about throwing your weight too. It is important to find a middle ground where you can accommodate another coworker’s desires too. Clinging on frantically to a dogmatic feeling of resentment is not going to benefit you in any manner. Therefore, you showing the willingness to compromise will display you as the more mature and the more professional one. In simple words, a negotiation with a win-win result is the best solution to any kind of conflict.
