✨ Activity: Workplace Conflict Resolution

Conflict in the workplace can be challenging, especially if trust has been broken. To initiate and open a dialogue, leaning into conflict means taking a risk, being courageous and vulnerable.

Sometimes, just sometimes, we actually owe an apology due to our actions. We can open a dialogue by expressing an apology first.

To open the lines of communication, here are examples of questions or statements for everyday workplace scenarios*:

• “I’d like to talk to you about this morning’s meeting. Is there anything I need to repair or address? I wouldn’t want to snag our process."
• “I’ve been feeling some tension, could we meet to talk?”
• “I’d like to understand what happened so that we don’t have this happen again and I can learn from this situation."

Conflict could arise from a mismatch of intention and impact.

Here are a couple of ways to open the dialogue for two different situations*:

• “It was my intention to gain some clarity about “X” and I can see my words may have negatively  impacted you.”
• “I was impacted by what you said at our team meeting today. I feel embarrassed and humiliated. What was your intention?”