Workplace Conflict Resolution Essentials For Dummies, Australian and New Zealand Edition

Chapter 6

Developing a Plan and Preparing for a Meeting

In This Chapter

Informing employees about the meeting

Setting boundaries and expectations

Creating an inviting meeting space

Preparing to facilitate

Managers often have to address the conflicts of the people on their team, and some try to rush headlong into a conversation with the people in conflict, without giving much thought to the process or the techniques that could maximise their chances of success. But this approach doesn’t usually yield good long-term results.

Solving your employees’ conflicts for them actually does more harm than good. Employees are more likely to support an idea when they have a stake in creating the solution than when someone else arbitrarily decides the answer for them. After all, they’re the ones who have to live with the consequences.

This line of thinking may represent a dramatic shift for you, but don’t worry — I fill you in on a proven process that not only solves problems but also strengthens people’s ability to tackle future issues.

This chapter is dedicated to all the initial work you ...