Recent Experience in Conflict Resolution
I currently hold the low level management position of Lifeguard III in our facility. In reality I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the individuals in-which I am supposed to be supervising, due to the fact they were bypassing me with their problems and going directly to my supervisors. The tension in the air was becoming thicker by the day. It was becoming more difficult to even say, “how was your week-end?” I finally, during my break, went to my supervisor and asked what I needed to do to resolve the situation. We discussed things that were going on, and found out that part of the problem was that my superiors were not helping the situation for a couple of reasons. First, they were letting them come to them with their issues and not giving me the chance to take care of them. Secondly, they were also by-passing me by giving information and projects out without my knowledge. Since they were doing this, I did not know what items they were working on, so when I would give them more items to accomplish they were becoming overloaded without my knowledge. They will now bring all projects through me as well as the new Lifeguard III, when the position is filled. After talking for 15-20 minutes we decided that the best action would be for me to call a meeting with the individuals, while my supervisors (both the director and the assistant director) offered to guard the pool and take care of the patrons entering the facility.
After finishing my break and collecting my thoughts, I call the others into a room off of the pool for the meeting. I began by explaining what I was feeling and that I wanted to get the air cleared. We were able to get a lot of things out in the open. What it finally came down to was communication. There was a break-down in communication that we needed to correct. The main thing that came out is that we all needed to work on keeping the emotion out of things. We enjoy what we are doing, but are all strong-willed and have our own ideas of how to do things. We also came up with an idea of how we all can keep track of the projects we currently have, and how I can assign their new projects to them.
After we finished with our meeting we all felt much better. The rest of the day went increasingly well. Even my superiors noticed an immediate relief of tension in the air. My supervisor was also very proud of me for taking the situation head on. This was the type of thing that he had wanted to see from me in my current position. By this I mean, he wanted me to admit things were not going well, step up, and find a way to solve the problem.
Even after only one full day, things seem to be working better. They now realize that they must come to me when problems occur, they need help, or they have finished their current project and are ready for new ones.
NOTE: The work presented on this page was produced as part of a learning exercise. While the content was reviewed and controls were in place to improve accuracy and quality, it may contain gross inaccuracy or poor quality. The emphasis was on the learning process and the sharing of information. Furthermore, this content may still be under revision. For more information about the process, see About UniCommons.com. For more accurate subject content related to this work, see Subjects.
Comments
I commend you for awareness of the situation and also your ability to tackle it head on instead of letting the problem fester and continue to infect the morale of your work team. Clear communication and an outline of appropriate processes for resolution can always help to resolve conflict. Might I suggest that you have regular meetings with your work team to address any issues and to encourage the use of team ideas in order to keep things working smoothly. I think you're doing a Good Job!
I commend you for awareness of the situation and also your ability to tackle it head on instead of letting the problem fester and continue to infect the morale of your work team. Clear communication and an outline of appropriate processes for resolution can always help to resolve conflict. Might I suggest that you have regular meetings with your work team to address any issues and to encourage the use of team ideas in order to keep things working smoothly. I think you're doing a Good Job!
Thanks Lasa, we are taking a few minutes in the morning when they come on at 8 (my shift starts at 5 am and they start at 8 am) every other morning or so to talk about a couple of things before they get going.
Things are going better. I still have one employee that think she should be left to do what she wants, but we are working on it. My supervisors are doing better at going through me with information and projects. That was the hard part because I was not 'in the loop' for a while. It is getting much better, which makes things much less tense.
What a great story! Thanks for sharing and great job in handling it! So many problems are rooted in mis-communication and are usually easily cleared up when addressed, but for some reason it's often so hard to address them! Very impressive!
Things are going ok, I am still working through getting my staff to realize when I ask them to accomplish something that they need to do it. I am getting there, but it is taking me some time. The previous upper management had a totally different idea as to how they wanted things run, so it is still a new experience for me in my position with the new upper management's ideas. Before I was to do things along with the rest of the staff, now I am to delegate. Some staff still is under the oppinion that if I am not doing it, they should not do it.
Things are going ok, I am still working through getting my staff to realize when I ask them to accomplish something that they need to do it. I am getting there, but it is taking me some time. The previous upper management had a totally different idea as to how they wanted things run, so it is still a new experience for me in my position with the new upper management's ideas. Before I was to do things along with the rest of the staff, now I am to delegate. Some staff still is under the oppinion that if I am not doing it, they should not do it. I guess it will just take a bit of time to get everyone on the same page.
I have to say the book we have for this class has been a big help with some of this. Even my supervisor has noticed that my ideas and mindset have changed. I have taken a few management seminars, but I think by far this class has been a much better source of information for me then any of the other seminars I have participated in.