How to deal with conflict in a team: A complete resolution guide

Personality clashes, disengagement, and lost productivity are just a few of the consequences of unaddressed workplace conflicts.

The longer you avoid or mismanage unresolved conflict, the more it impacts team dynamics, preventing a productive work environment from thriving. All this can have a flow-on effect, causing serious downturns in overall business performance and profitability. And no business or team needs that.

Whether you're a founder or a team leader at an agency, a startup, or a consultancy business, handling workplace conflict should be second nature to you.

In this post, we give you a bulletproof strategy for minimizing the negative impact of workplace conflicts and a fast resolution blueprint. One that will balance and smooth out employee relationships and get your overall workplace culture into a safe and healthy mode!

Get the basics right: Environment & communication techniques

Before you jump into any type of workplace conflict resolution, you need to create the right setting and take the right approach. These consist of the environment you create and the communication techniques you apply.

If you don't get these foundations right, effective conflict resolution will be impossible.

Create the right environment for conflict resolution

First things first: create a safe space that encourages people to open up. This is the only way you'll be able to tackle workplace conflicts effectively, without making emotions escalate.

There are several key things you should establish right at the start.

Choose the right physical environment

The actual physical space you choose to use as the place where conflict will be resolved can either support or hinder your chances of success. There are three considerations when it comes to choosing the ideal environment.

1. Make the space neutral: You're always better off choosing a neutral spot like a meeting room that isn't tied to any one person, rather than someone's office.
2. Keep the conversation private: Pick a place where other team members won't overhear what's going on (especially for sensitive conflicts!). Also, try to schedule these talks when there will be minimal interruptions.
3. Virtual meeting considerations: If the conflict resolution needs to take place online, make sure everyone turns on their webcam so you can pick up on body language and read facial expressions.

Establish psychological safety

It's hard to stress just how vital psychological safety is when you're trying to restore harmony in the workplace.

The main idea behind psychological safety is to make sure people know (and truly believe) they won’t face negative consequences for participating honestly in workplace conflict resolution.

If you don't establish this safety, most people will go through the motions in practice, but they'll avoid speaking their mind and expressing their genuine thoughts, which is what you need if you want to truly negotiate a solution.

Set the structure and ground rules

If you don't set the ground rules and provide a structure for everyone to follow at the very start, chances are the conversation will spiral out of control and straight into chaos quite quickly.

To keep the conversation on track and make sure everyone gets the opportunity to have their say, try setting a clear agenda and sticking to a time limit, the minute the discussion starts.

Ideally, each session should start with a quick review of what's been agreed to, the ground rules that will keep the discussion on track, and the particular workplace conflict that's being tackled.

Some of the ground rules you might like to include could be:

• No interrupting: Let people finish speaking before you jump in.
• Equal say for everyone involved: Nobody gets left out or talks over someone else.
• Focus on what specific actions were taken: Stay away from making personal attacks.
• A confidentiality agreement: A document guaranteeing it won't be spread outside the room.
• A promise not to throw punches: Especially when giving honest feedback
• A commitment to finding a solution: The ultimate aim is to fix things, not assign blame.
• Respect and open-mindedness: Take into account and consider views of others, even if you don't agree.

Tip: Before you wrap up your discussion, make sure you have some sort of action plan. What needs to happen next? When will you check in again for an update? 

Use the right communication techniques for conflict resolution

When you've established the right environment, landed a structure, and chosen the ground rules, you can then move on to getting into the right mode of communication for managing team conflict.

There are three communication techniques you need to apply, no matter which strategy you end up using.

1. Apply active listening

The basics of good communication lie in active listening. This alone is the foundation of every successful conflict resolution effort. Without it, nothing really gets sorted out.

But what does active listening involve? It involves making a real effort to understand where the other person is coming from. The easiest way to do this is to repeat back in your own words what you've heard, and ask some gentle probing questions that encourage people to open up further.  

2. Acknowledge emotions

The other thing is recognizing and acknowledging the emotions of everyone in the room. This really helps people feel like their point of view is genuinely heard, understood, and valued.

What you need to remember here is that you don't have to agree with where are person is coming from, but you need to acknowledge it's their stance.

One way you can achieve this is by saying something like:

"I can see why you'd find that really frustrating."

OR

"It sounds like you're worried about how this is going to affect the quality of our work".

This kind of approach makes people feel safe enough to open up further and keep talking openly. When people feel like they've been heard, they tend to calm down and be a lot more willing to listen to others as well. 

3. Avoid accusations at all costs

Blame games and accusations stop conflict resolution dead in its tracks. All it does is make underlying tensions rise. It also messes with good team dynamics and tends to make a bad situation worse.

Try not to interrupt people when they're explaining their side of things (even if you do think they're way off base). And don't go making assumptions about what's going on in their head.

Also, avoid using words like "always" or "never," because they make people think you're trying to make them look like a villain in the situation.

5 Conflict Resolution Strategies

When you've got the basics sorted, it's time to turn to actual techniques you can use to resolve conflicts and lift team morale.

One of the most popular working styles when you want to manage conflict is to use the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument.

What this model does is help people understand how they typically respond to conflict situations, so they can develop a the best approach depending on the context.

The model maps five strategies along two dimensions of behavior:

1. Assertiveness – Pursuing your own interests
2. Cooperativeness – Considering others’ needs

Understanding these dimensions helps you select the right approach based on situation urgency and relationship importance.

Now, the strategy you choose to go with might depend on several factors:

By using this workplace conflict model regularly over a period, most teams develop the ability to assess these factors quickly and adjust their approach accordingly, rather than defaulting to a single conflict style regardless of circumstances.

The decision-making framework includes three key questions:

By answering these questions, you'll be able to start making the first steps to handle conflict and build some common ground. Then you can steer the rest of the team away from power struggles and into the right direction: one where every employee believes they've been heard and where the whole team is willing to take a constructive approach to fix the workplace culture as one team..

#1 Collaboration: Open dialogue & create a win-win solution

To resolve team conflict, through collaboration, you needto make room for open communication. These two are the crucial factors that lie at the heart of every conflict resolution.

Now it may take some time and effort, but it usually results in an outcome that makes conflict in the workplace disappear, and puts everyone on the same page (maybe not completely, but definitely to a relatively good degree).

This is the only way to go if you want to get the job done and still keep everyone on board.

And here's what it involves:

1. Get everyone in the same room: Work on the problem, and avoid looking at who's to blame
2. Focus on specifics: What needs to happen rather than judging someone's persona or actions
3. Get everyone brainstorming: Make sure every contribution gets a fair hearing

Some scenarios where you would use the collaboration strategy for workplace conflict resolution include:

• Complex problems requiring creative solutions
• Long-term relationships that matter more than quick fixes
• Multiple stakeholders need to buy into the solution
• Where innovation and team learning are priorities
• When time allows for thorough discussion and consensus-building

Collaboration is much easier to do in one-on-one situations, but you can also learn strategies to increase collaboration between teams.

#2 Compromise: Review different ideas & find a middle ground

Compromising doesn't mean pleasing one party only. It means finding a middle ground where each party gets what they need to a reasonably fair extent.

It involves finding a balance. One that's somewhere between being assertive and being willing to listen and work together with others.

However, keep in mind, most people will still need to give a little to get a solution that works for everyone. It's not always perfect, but it's an approach that will help you find a solution.

So what does effective compromise look like in action?

1. Being clear about where each side is willing and unwilling to budge: It's a bit of a fine art of finding the space where you have the wiggle room to move and maneuver a compromise.

2. Coming up with fair deals: You can make lists of what each person cares most about and then try to address the biggest needs for both sides.

3. Setting fair timelines: Try to be reasonable, fair, and realistic when it comes to implementing changes and avoid rushing things through to avoid conflict recurring.

For example, imagine you have a situation where your project teams split the budget allocation 60-40 instead of the original proposal of 80-20. The development team needed additional more funds for security features, while the marketing team wanted to use the funds for their user acquisition campaigns.

Rather than fighting over the entire budget, they compromised by reallocating funds based on project phase priorities, with development receiving more during the build phase and marketing getting additional resources during launch.

Compromise works best in situations where:

• Time constraints prevent lengthy collaborative processes

• Parties have relatively equal power and influence

• A temporary solution will suffice until more resources become available

• The stakes are moderate – important enough to address, but not critical to long-term success

• Previous collaborative attempts have stalled

Remember: A good compromise requires both parties to feel they’re gaining something valuable, not just giving up important elements. This is all about making smart tradeoffs. Tradeoffs that sometimes require a more creative approach, where you think "outside of the box".

#3 Accommodation: When there's a benefit involved

Accommodation shouldn't be your go-to strategy all the time, but some of the time, it will make perfect sense.

The accommodation strategy is about analyzing and weighing up requests. Your aim is to work out whether a fight is worth fighting, and whether there might be a benefit (for one or both parties) to let something be, happen, or take place, which you normally wouldn't.

When the stakes are low and the relationship with your team members is what really matters, accommodation, where you give more than you take, is a strategy that makes good sense.

The scenarios when strategic accommodation makes sense are:

1. When you realize the other person hasthe upper hand when it comes to some area of expertise
2. When the issue actually presents an experience worth learning from
3. When "playing nice" now can help you get "help" in the future

A good example is when an experienced developer lets a junior colleague have their way on something, even if they don't think it's the best approach. The senior person gets to learn something new and gain some experience mentoring, and the junior developer gets to build their confidence and skills.

Another scenario where the accommodation approach is useful in workplace conflict resolution situations is when you need to keep the team working together, and you can afford to take a step back.

Real-life examples include:

• Minor issues that don’t affect core project outcomes
• Situations where others have significantly more expertise
• Relationship building with new employees or team members
• Learning opportunities where experience matters more than being right
• Temporary situations where maintaining harmony prevents larger conflicts

Tip: The key to healthy accommodation lies in clear communication about your reasoning. Make sure you know, upfront, what you're choosing to defer and why. Also, make sure you genuinely value the relationship. 

#4 Competition: Asserting Position Firmly

The competition strategy can be a risky approach. It involves being tough, straight to the point, and not necessarily friendly.

It's a high-assertiveness, low-cooperativeness approach that tends to be one of the best choices when time is of the essence, or when people's lives or safety are on the line. So, it's probably not going to be the strategy you apply on autopilot.

And yes – this approach can burn some bridges if you overdo it, but sometimes you simply have to be the one calling the tough shots.

For example, when your company is in a security breach or threat scenario. When you're dealing with a security threat, there's no time for light treading and collaborative discussion. It's a "drop what you're doing this minute" and let's fix this ASAP. And the same goes for safety.

Scenarios when it makes sense to apply the competition strategy approach include:

• When you need to act fast to fix an emergency
• When you're dealing with something that's just not negotiable
• When someone's putting themselves or others at risk
• When it's clearly a moral issue and there's no room for compromise
• When you're the one with the final say (and you know it)

Warning: The competition approach can be a real killer for team relationships, so use it sparingly or only when necessary. Because it's a black-or-white kind of approach, it can make people feel excluded or undermined. To avoid awkward vibes, be upfront about why you made the call and acknowledge that other people might not see it the same way. 

#5 Avoidance: The strategic withdrawal

Avoidance stirs up two pictures in a person's mind. The first is not being very pushy, and the second is having a hard time getting along with people.

Both sound fairly negative, but in the right situation, avoidance can be a super useful strategy.

You've heard the saying: "Sometimes the best thing you can do is do nothing at all". Well, that's what we're talking about here.

This strategy is one of the best strategies when emotions are running high and a productive conversation seems impossible. It also works well when you need to take some time to gather more info will actually lead to a better solution in the end.

Strategic avoidance might involve:

1. Holding off on discussions until a key stakeholder is back in the office
2. Giving people time to calm down before trying to work out an issue that's got everyone restless
3. Waiting things out until the situation is clear before making any major decisions

The idea here isn't to just pretend everything is fine and hope the problem goes away, but to create a better environment for finding a solution that works for everyone.

Consider using the avoidance strategy for workplace conflict resolution when:

• Emotions are too intense for rational discussion
• Key information or stakeholders are missing
• The issue may resolve naturally without intervention
• Timing isn’t right for a productive conversation
• Other priorities require immediate attention

However, avoid using this strategy for serious conflicts that require resolution or when a delay will make problems worse. Avoidance becomes problematic when it’s used to escape difficult conversations that team members need to have for the working relationship to improve.

When you choose avoidance, communicate your intentions clearly. Let team members know you’re postponing the discussion temporarily and specify when you’ll revisit the issue. This prevents people from feeling ignored while giving everyone time to prepare for more productive dialogue.

Workplace conflict: You can't avoid it, but you can grow from it

Conflict is an unavoidable part of teamwork, but it doesn't have to derail progress or damage relationships. In fact, when handled properly, conflict can spark innovation, strengthen relationships, and create a more productive work environment.

When leaders and teams create the right kind of environment – both physical and psychological – for conflict resolution, even the most heated disputes can become turning points for growth.

Take situations of conflict and see if there is an opportunity in there. Take the time to really listen to both sides of the story. Try to get a sense of where they're coming from. Establish some clear expectations upfront and keep everyone calm.

Choose and use your words carefully. Don't let emotions get the better of you. By taking things slowly and deliberately, you can work through conflicts without causing lasting harm to the business or your colleagues' relationships.

Nobody's saying conflict resolution is easy. But it is possible, and you can reach solid solutions that don't result in disagreements that spiral out of control. It's just a matter of navigating them in a way that actually builds trust, helps the team work better together in the long run, and keeps everyone focused on the same goals.

By treating workplace conflicts as soft-skill-building and growth opportunities, rather than chaos scenes, teams and organisations can use them to their advantage.

Once you've done a conflict resolution at work, once, twice, and three times, chances are you'll avoid many repeat issues before they occur!

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