Managing conflict as a project manager

 

As project managers we all have to deal with conflict as part of our role. Conflict situations arise throughout the life-cycle of a project. You will have conflicts with clients, stakeholders and team members as well as witness conflicts between them. Conflict management goes hand in hand with project management.

How can project managers prepare or arm themselves to handle conflict? What are the skills that we have to develop?

1. Communication

Communicating clearly and effectively is the key to resolving conflict. Communication is a big part of project management and in conflict situations it becomes even more vital. Continuing to improve your communications skills and learning to communicate clearly will increase your ability to handle conflicts.

When you are in the middle of a conflict, non-verbal communication plays an essential part. Facial expression, tone of voice, posture etc. contribute to the exchange during a disagreement. Improving you non-verbal communication skills will also go a long way towards better conflict management.

2. Active listening

Practice active listening when handling conflict situations by giving verbal and physical signs that you understand what the other person is saying. This is a very useful skill for conflict resolution because it will help the other person to trust you and open up. Then, you can get to the root cause of the real problem and understand the other person's point of view.

3. Negotiation

Conflicts arise from disagreements and to resolve them you have to try to reach a compromise. This is where your negotiation skills will come in handy. Oftentimes project managers have to negotiate conflicts with timelines or resources with the team. These issues are usually resolved by negotiating with them and coming to an agreement where both parties may have to compromise.

4. Collaboration

The ideal resolution for a conflict is a win / win outcome where you arrive at a solution that is agreeable to everyone. Rather than looking at a problem as us vs them, you can think of it as common issue and work together to resolve it. Collaborate with the other party to reach a win / win outcome. For a project manager the ability to collaborate with your team and your clients is crucial to the success of the project.

5. Stress management

Learning to manage your own stress is the key to staying calm in conflict situations. If stress overwhelms you, you won't be able to communicate clearly and respond in a positive way. Project managers have to be in control over themselves and their emotions to be able to manage conflict situations. A manager who loses his temper, for example, runs the risk of alienating the team.

6. Emotional awareness

Being emotionally aware helps you to understand yourself and others. In conflict situations it’s important to understand what is really troubling the other person as well as yourself. The ability to handle conflict depends on being connected to the emotions underpinning the situation.

Developing these skills will help you to improve your ability to manage conflicts in a constructive way.

How do you handle conflict situations? What other skills do you think will be beneficial? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Update:

There's an excellent webinar by Shawn Stratton on Effective Conflict Resolution. Shawn discusses the 5 dysfunctions of a team, 5 major causes of destructive conflict, how to facilitate healthy conflict and a simple and effective conflict resolution model. If you are interested in learning more about conflict resolution I definitely recommend this webinar.