Conflict resolution skills and styles are needed everywhere in our life:
- in the workplace;
- at home;
- for interview questions and resume;
- for negotiations;
- in customer communications;
- every other business area.
Good and effective conflict management and dispute resolution skills are a must for every manager, leader, and employee. It is a must for every successful team-building process and for the company’s growth.
Here you will find conflict resolution skills definition and a list of the main of them. The page also contains basic steps of the conflict resolution process and main conflict management styles.
Table of Contents
Conflict resolution skills, styles and process.
What are conflict management skills? These are a range of interpersonal and communication abilities that are needed for reaching an agreement between two or more parties that already have a disagreement or dispute.
The ability to resolve problems is the ability to find a way to a peaceful and effective solution. The dispute or disagreement may be business, personal, workplace conflict, family problem, company issue, and more.
Conflict resolution process
The conflict resolution process includes some important steps such as understanding the conflict, communication between parties, searching for alternatives, choosing the best resolution, consultations with third parties, and dealing with stress.
No matter if you are a manager, leader, or just an employee, you need to be familiar with this process and to possess basic conflict resolution skills.
Basic dispute and conflict resolution skills are:
- Good communication skills – both verbal and nonverbal.
- Active listening skills.
- The ability to present your points of view calmly without aggression.
- The ability to recognise the opposite side’s emotions and body language.
- Be patient and flexible.
- Be concentrate.
- Show respect and understanding to the other side and its points of view and arguments. Your attitude has to include respectful reactions.
- Ability to put yourself in the other side’s position. This includes understanding other people fillings and emotions.
- Anger management skills and dealing with aggression. You have to know how to control your emotions.
- The ability to seek compromise. Willingness to make compromises is one of the most important conflict resolution skills you need.
- Stress management skills and dealing with emotions.
- The ability to see problems from multiple perspectives.
Besides good dispute and conflict resolution skills, you also need conflict resolution styles. The most popular of them are:
- Compromising
- Collaborating
- Accommodating.
- Avoiding
- Competiting
These styles look in a different way for different people because every one of us is unique. But knowing and using main dispute/conflict resolution skills and styles can help you to be more effective in the workplace, in a personal relationship, in the business area, and in every other aspect of your life.