Resolving conflict at work takes time

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Are you looking for a quick fix for a major conflict at work? So is everyone else. The problem is that quick fixes usually don’t work. Resolving conflict takes time.

I recently presented a conflict resolution program to a group of AT&T executives at a sales conference in Las Vegas. After I identified several principles for more effectively resolving conflict at work, one participant lamented that the principles wouldn’t work because they took too much time. The participant wanted a quick fix.

Two basic groups of people look for quick fixes to conflict at work. One group consists of customer service employees who have to quickly address customer complaints on the telephone. Some companies have quotas for the number of telephone calls a customer service agent should take during their work shift. This pressures the customer service agent to get a customer off the line as quickly as possible regardless of whether they address the customer’s complaint.

Companies must seriously look at their desired outcomes. One outcome is to adequately address a customer’s complaint in a way that satisfies and retains the customer. Another outcome is to quickly get the customer off the line so you meet your quota even if the customer is still unsatisfied.

Another group looking for quick fixes to conflict at work are managers and supervisors. Because of downsizing, managers and supervisors do not have the time or the staff to get everything done. Consequently, they have little patience with what they consider to be petty quarrels or childish disputes among their co-workers or staff. They want to tell the conflicting parties to stop acting like children and get back to work. Unfortunately, this approach does little to resolve the conflict.

The truth is resolving conflict takes time. How much time it takes depends upon 1) the intensity of the emotions expressed by the conflicting parties, 2) the number of parties involved in the conflict, 3) the length of time the conflict has gone on, and 4) the importance of the issues involved in the conflict. It will take more time to resolve the conflict as each of these factors increases in intensity, number, length and importance.

People do not fight over petty issues. If they are fighting, it is because an issue is important to them. The manager, customer service rep or other observer not involved in the conflict may fail to see the importance of the issues. But the issues are important to the people involved in the conflict. Belittling or trivializing the issues does not help settle the dispute. If people are fighting over it, the issue is serious.

Quick fixes usually do not work. Although bandages may hide sore spots, the unhealed sores fester and infect the workplace.

Taking the time to address the issues saves you time in the long run. You are better off dealing with the conflict than you are looking for a quick fix. You are better off taking the time to work things out than dealing with the quarrels and disputes that later erupt from unresolved issues. You can invest the time up front or you can invest the time later.

From a customer service perspective, it’s faster, cheaper and less hassle to resolve your customer’s complaint than it is to market and replace the upset customer with a new customer. So, listen to your angry customers. Allow them to vent. Then find workable solutions that keep your customers coming back to do business with you. Your existing customer base is one of your most valuable assets. You have already invested in attracting the customer. Keeping them satisfied is usually cheaper than replacing them.

The same is true for conflicting workers. A manager is better off taking the time to help the workers resolve their dispute than to replace the workers. Interviewing, hiring and training new employees is expensive. Taking the time to really resolve the conflict is faster and cheaper than losing productivity from a lingering dispute.

People looking for superficial solutions to complex problems pay the price in the long run. Resolving conflict at work takes time, but in the long run, it is faster and cheaper than superficial, quick fixes.

Terry Bragg runs a company called Peacemakers Training in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is the author of the book 31 Days to High Self-Esteem. Contact him at or at www.terrybragg.com.

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