Conflicts are an inevitable part of our daily lives. They arise between individuals and teams in an organization, between companies, and with your customers and clients. Employees' inability to effectively deal with conflict in the workplace takes its toll. It results in an enormous loss of productivity and profit, and negative emotional impact to those directly and indirectly involved.

Every organization pays the price for mismanaged conflict. It saps the financial health of an organization, repels customers, and damages human resources. Can you identify the impact of conflict in your organization?

We can help you stop the financial bleeding and the destructive interactions among business associates caused by poorly managed workplace conflict. We specialize in conflict resolution processes and tools that help you turn conflict into capital.

Every organization has a strategy for handling conflict. How effective is yours?

We help companies develop powerful tools to prevent, manage and resolve workplace conflict.

Conflict is all around us. In fact, it is a normal part of interacting with others. Many of these everyday types of conflicts are constructive and propel organizations and individuals to make valuable changes. The thing that separates constructive and destructive conflicts is how well a person can interpret and choose to deal with potentially explosive situations.

A primary objective of training leaders and employees to recognize and manage conflict is to reduce the frequency of this destructive cycle. It is not the objective to eliminate all disputes in the workplace since healthy conflict can be a precursor to positive change. Training provides leaders and employees with greater self-awareness and skills in dealing successfully with adversarial practices within the organizational culture.

Ignoring or mismanaging destructive conflict in the workplace leads to increased financial risk. Healthy organizations recognize that good collaboration skills and the ability to create and maintain workplace relationships are essential qualities shared by successful professionals. Nobody succeeds alone in the current global economy. In today's companies building collaborative working relationships is the key to achieving superior results.

You can:

• Take control of conflicts
• Negotiate workable solutions
• Handle "difficult" people and situations
• Help create a healthier organizational culture
• Save thousands of "invisible dollars" now being lost due to missed opportunities and impaired decision-making

It is estimated that over 65% of performance problems on the job result from tense relationships between employees, not from deficits in individual employees' skill or motivation.

Look at what conflict costs your organization:

1. Wasted time
   How much time do your managers spend dealing with conflict? How much time do individuals spend focusing on disagreements and dissatisfaction instead of using their time productively?

2. Reduced quality of decisions
   Are your team members withholding information or not fully cooperating with others? What decisions are being made without full, accurate and timely information?

3. Loss of skilled employees
   What is it costing you to replace employees and the knowledge they take with them when they leave?

4. Restructuring
   Are you or your managers making changes to work allocation to accommodate employees who aren't getting along?

5. Sabotage/damage/theft
   Are you experiencing theft or damage to your equipment and inventory? Are work processes being compromised?

6. Lowered job motivation
   Are your good employees losing motivation and time when they constantly have to deal with difficult co-workers?

7. Lost work time
   Are employees choosing to take "sick days" off because of their frustration with unresolved disputes and stress?

8. Health costs
   Is conflict contributing to employees' susceptibility to illness and injuries? Is your company paying more for health insurance and paid time off because of the associated stress?

When these destructive situations are ignored or not dealt with effectively, it will usually lead to increased time spent by managers and supervisors, increased health costs, increased complaints, increased litigation costs, and increased financial risk. Organizations that leave destructive conflict unchecked risk loss of productivity, loss of customers, loss of good employees and loss or destruction of equipment and supplies.

Check out this self-administered tool to measure the financial cost of workplace conflict in your organization.

With our solutions, you can learn to recognize and manage conflict for yourself and for others within your organization and reduce its negative impact on your bottom line. Contact us today to discuss ways that you can better manage conflict.

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