Conflict Resolution

A situation in which I was an observer during the escalation of a verbal conflict was a department meeting at work.  The conflict was between the department head and the supervisor from another department, and the point of contention was a differing perspective on how some internal logistics should be handled.  The conflict escalated because neither party was willing to concede on their perspective and emotions became involved because the situation was personal to each on of them as they took great pride and ownership of their departments.  At its peak, one of the supervisors was yelling at the other and stormed out of the conference room.

I was not in the position to de-escalate the conflict, but if I had been I would have employed the STLC (stop, think, listen, communicate) approach by breaking the meeting for 5-10 minutes to allow each party to calm down.  I would then help facilitate the discussion to reiterate the purpose behind the meeting and allow each supervisor time to voice their perspective without interruption, asking the other party to listen to find common ground.

In this instance, the VP of the company de-escalated the conflict by mediating for both sides.  He spoke with each supervisor individually and then made a decision.  While this was effective, I think it mitigated some of the potential by-in had the supervisors come to an agreement on their own.  When possible, I think it is best to aid the involved parties in coming to their own resolution, rather than simply removing the matter of conflict.