There are so many moving parts of a construction project and such a wide range of people and interests involved in the works that conflicts are simply inevitable. It’s almost assured you will have multiple pockets of conflict happening across a job site at any given time. Many of these conflicts get sorted out by themselves while others may threaten the schedule, the property, and even lives.
Try these conflict resolution tactics the next time you’re caught in the middle:
Nobody’s right and nobody’s wrong
When arbitrating a conflict, objectivity is golden. The person in the middle needs to be free of bias and willing to admit when they aren’t. Sometimes, you won’t be the best person to help the parties resolve the conflict and that’s OK. However, if that’s the case, don’t leave the issue hanging. Get another middle party right away to get the issue fixed.
Impartiality is also important in where you choose to sort out the details of the conflict. Try to pick a place that’s neutral and definitely avoid the conflicted parties’ workspaces. You can also improve conflict resolution by short-circuiting the blame game.
Playing the blame game makes the conflict more intractable by creating negative feelings among workers and putting people on the defensive. If your organization has a habit of focusing on blame, you probably also have less openness and honesty. In the worst cases, people will cover up their mistakes even to the detriment of the project.
As long as blame is at play, your chances of sparking true collaboration to solve the problem is limited. Acknowledge when people accept or lay blame, then move on.
Let everybody have their say
Each party has a unique perspective of the conflict. Not only are they experiencing the issues differently, but they also arrive with their own sets of abilities and inabilities. Some people communicate better than others. Some people respond more to emotion than to logic. Use your power as a mediator to ensure each party can explain their points without interruption.
Make notes. One party might be saying that something is true, while the other party is contesting what they’re saying. A major aspect of conflict resolution is getting to the bottom of things. You need to separate perceptions from the truth. If someone disagrees about a fact, ask them to explain why they think the fact is incorrect.
Then work backward from there to discover the truth. If there is a witness to events, bring in the witness long enough for them to tell what they saw. If there is documentation, get it in front of both parties so they have evidence to validate facts. It’s very easy to go down rabbit holes when dealing with conflict, so the more facts you can uncover and acknowledge, the better the chances for a good outcome.
Help everybody participate in the solution
Once you’ve sorted the facts and each party has a clear understanding of the situation, it’s likely you will see a genuine intent on both their parts to arrive at a solution. You can guide this by staying involved enough to make sure the negotiations stay on track and don’t stray into new territory.
Other times, the parties don’t know how to move forward. This is when you might suggest options like give and take. One party might give up something now for a gain later. Meanwhile, the other party takes a gain now and a loss later. Maybe there is a way for the parties to collaborate on a solution so each shares some of the pain. Or, perhaps there is a contractual element they can both agree to.
Everybody can’t always win
It’s always beneficial to have a win-win. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible. Then, you need to acknowledge that and accept it. At some point it might fall to you to decide the outcome and the solution. Before doing that, however, help the parties see they have more options when working out a solution together.
Maybe it’s possible that bringing the parties back to the big picture will help them see the way forward is not as bad as they imagine. Ask them to think about the long term result of not solving the conflict. What is the damage to the project? What is the damage to their individual companies? What are the damages to themselves?
Managing conflict requires objectivity, care and empathy. The more you do it successfully, the better you get at it. Working in construction you’ll have lots of opportunities to practice.
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