Conflict in the age of Zoom

With so many employees now ‘out of sight’, there’s a real risk that conflict goes unnoticed or avoided until it grows to an unmanageable level. When handled appropriately, conflict can lead to breakthrough solutions.

Working remotely can prompt employees to work longer hours and, with the added concerns over COVID-19, a struggling economy, home-schooling children, and shaky job security, workers may find themselves mired in fear and anxiety, creating fertile ground for conflict.

We seem to be stretching ourselves over and over again to adapt to ongoing changes in the workplace. Whenever there is the potential for increased stress on individuals, conflict and frustration between employees and within teams can rear its head – even online.

When staff and teams are communicating via email, Zoom or Skype, this can potentially lead to misunderstandings, silences or unconsidered messaging. The good news is that there is a way to teach your people how to deal with conflict in the most productive way possible, and harness the opportunity that conflict brings.

This is the time to develop self-awareness and how we relate with others. Perhaps this lockdown period will be remembered by your team as a time of engagement, trust, openness, empathy, and support.

Productive Conflict – a learnable skill

Workplace conflict is inevitable. Everything DiSC Productive Conflict helps learners improve self-awareness around conflict behaviours. Rather than focus on a step-by-step process for conflict resolution, Everything DiSC Productive Conflict helps learners curb destructive behaviours so that conflict can become more productive, ultimately improving workplace results and relationships.

By increasing self-awareness around conflict behaviours, Everything DiSC Productive Conflict helps learners effectively respond to the uncomfortable and unavoidable challenges of workplace conflict.

Everything DiSC Productive Conflict defines how each of the DiSC styles handles workplace conflict, by defining both destructive and productive tendencies. Participants will discover their own behaviours and examine how to improve their personal approach to conflict. Colleagues will do the same. All participants will then come together to learn how best to work with different styles. It’s a powerful tool.

By focusing on self-awareness of destructive thoughts and behaviours, Everything DiSC Productive Conflict helps participants choose more productive responses, ultimately improving workplace results and relationships.