Remotely Different: Two Soft Skills to Effectively Navigate Conflict in Today’s Workplace

Abstract

Over one-third of employees encounter workplace conflict on a daily basis (Moody,2022), but most are not equipped with the skills to navigate these challenges effectively, ultimately costing both them and their organization valuable time and resources. The current study explores two emergent behaviors – Engage the Mess and Suppress the Noise – by asking participants to tell real-life stories about these behaviors at work. The 105 stories evidenced six themes of how Engage the Mess enables healthy conflict in the workplace and Suppress the Noise minimizes unnecessary conflict to focus on the core issue(s). The shared themes include Being Aware of Others, Communicating Clearly, Applying Teamwork, Taking an Action Step, Finding Common Ground or Workable Solution, and Adapting or Being Open to Influence. Suppress the Noise additionally included a theme of Focusing on What is Most Important. Results indicated a symbiotic relationship between these two behaviors that provide a simple, straightforward framework to enable employees to effectively resolve workplace conflict.

Keywords:

• Conflict at work,
• conflict resolution framework,
• conflict management,
• constructive conflict,
• healthy conflict,
• workplace conflict