Issa Asad 3 Smart Ways to Deal with Business Conflict
All businesses, in many ways, depend on interpersonal and professional relationships of the people involved. However, in a business environment things have a tendency to get pretty stressful. Disagreements, conflicts and fights happen from time to time.
“It’s up to the employer and the individuals involved to get the best out of them, and sometimes creativity is born out of conflict and sometimes conflicts stunt the growth of a business and creates a hectic, unhealthy working environment,” explained Issa Asad Florida businessman, entrepreneur, and CEO of Quadrant Holdings and Q Link Wireless.
In essence, it all comes down to learning how to deal with conflict and that’s what we will be focusing on in this article. Here are Issa Asad 3 smart ways to deal with business conflict.
1) Be Direct, but Remain Calm
It’s important to embody assertiveness and calm energy. Be direct and ask direct questions, but try not to sound threatening or demeaning. Some people may perceive your directness as you being rude, which can just deepen the conflict. That’s why it’s important to remain calm in sensitive situations. Conflicts hurt peoples’ fragile egos and that is something that you have to keep in mind at all times. Try to convey whatever it is that you want to convey in a calm, yet assertive and direct manner. Be respectful and try to understand different points of view.
2) Ask Important Questions
In order to resolve a conflict, you need to give people a chance to talk and share their feelings. Try to look at the situation as objectively as possible and ask powerful questions. That is a great way to get to the bottom of a conflict without coming across aggressive. When asking questions, try to ask them in a logical way. Keep them sharp and simple, concise and straight to the point – examine others’ behavior by giving them a chance to speak. Pay attention to their body language and facial expressions when they answer your questions – most communication between human beings is non-verbal, that’s why this is absolutely crucial. Base your next question on the way people respond to the questions you have already ask them. Make logical connections between your questions and try to be non-judgmental about the answers you get.
3) Know the Personalities Involved
Everyone is different, therefore you can’t approach everyone the same way. Try to adjust your approach depending on who you’re speaking to. Some people get offended easily, while others respond to direct confrontation. Try to tweak your behavior according to peoples’ personalities. Obviously, every workplace is full of different, sometimes clashing, personalities and points of view. People come from different backgrounds and cultures and that in itself can be enough of a reason to spark an argument, not to mention how much men and women differ when it comes to arguments and confrontations. Women tend to react emotionally, especially in the early stages of a conflict, while men tend to get confrontational, defensive and aggressive. It’s important to keep these things in mind when having an argument. Some people are introverted, while others are loud extroverts with flamboyant personalities – every human being is multidimensional and that is something we all have to learn how to deal with.