Matcha Extreme

 

  Whether you're navigating tricky conversations or advising employees through conflict, there will always be tough workplace issues to emerge. 

  How you deal with these obstacles will go a long way toward defining the atmosphere of your office. 

  Will the office be a place where you and your team can talk and work freely, or will it be a place that stifles creativity and operates out of fear of discipline? 

  All workplaces are made up of imperfect individuals who have good intentions but who will inevitably fail, struggle or cause conflict. Mistakes happen, mistakes will be made, and feelings may get hurt. 

  Having a plan for how to respond to these things and mitigate the repercussions will put you on a path toward a peaceful and successful work environment.

   When tough times arise, consider trying one or more of the following five proven strategies:

   1. Exercise patience

   A good rule of thumb, when faced with a difficult situation such as a disgruntled employee or an angry customer, is to take a deep breath and just listen. 

  Oftentimes, if you can help the person you are interacting with feel heard, the situation will regress on its own. 

  We all yearn to be understood and appreciated, so when you patiently give those around you enough space to air their grievances and vent their frustrations (even if they are unfounded or if you don't agree with them) you are nurturing their side that craves to be seen and appreciated. 

  Once you are done talking, take a brief moment to gather your own thoughts; Then, calmly paraphrase what they told you and work with them to come up with a solution that works for everyone involved.

   2. Grow in gratitude

   If you can cultivate a culture of thanksgiving in the office, you may be surprised at how high everyone's attitudes are in your workplace.

 Recognizing your employees' successes and telling them often that you appreciate their hard work will help them feel appreciated, and often build a spirit of excitement and harmony, which acts as a hedge against small daily inconveniences and irritations that can result. above.

   3. Bullet bite

   Although it can be tempting to throw conflict under the rug—especially if you don't like conflict personally—it's important to set an example for those looking for you as a leader in your company. 

  Instead of pretending the issues aren't there, just confront them. The more you allow things to lie beneath the surface, the greater the feelings of resentment and frustration.

   Offended or disinterested customers and employees can quickly turn into disgruntled people who vocalize their displeasure to others.

    This can create a thick mist of bitterness and alibi that reduces productivity and dampens work-life harmony. The best way to stop this in its tracks is to take problems head-on as soon as you become aware of them. Don't let them turn into something big and uncomfortable. 

Have a difficult conversation, if necessary, and get to the heart of things as quickly as possible.

4. Try a positive sandwich

   This technique has been used by teachers and coaches for decades; It's incredibly simple, requiring little practice or preparation to master. You begin by identifying the problem, problem, or behavior that needs to be discussed or brought to someone's attention. Next, you build the sandwich by deciding one positive thing to say before the difficult thing and then another positive thing to say immediately after the difficult part of the conversation.

   If, for example, you need to reprimand an employee for his habit of arriving late, you can choose to start the conversation by emphasizing how important it is to keep the office running smoothly. Then you can discuss the need for their punctuality. Then, you can end the conversation by thanking them for being such an important member of the team. Most people are eager to please and will respond positively to the process. You are still engaged in the difficult but necessary correction, and you are doing it in a way that still invokes the greatness in that person and affirms their value to your company.

   5. Character identification

   Everyone has a unique personality and perspective; The more you can understand those around you - where they come from and how they see the world - the more you can anticipate and build positively their reactions to situations. 

  If you know, for example, that one of your employees is incredibly analytical and processes information slowly and methodically, you'll know not to ask them to take the lead on projects that require spontaneous and free-thinking.

   Preparing people for success, or playing to their strengths, is a surefire way to boost the spirit of collaboration and positivity in your workplace. 

  Consider having your team do a character assessment, then schedule the results to share with everyone. The more willing everyone is to work well together, the less likely you are to find yourself managing conflicts in the first place.

   Consider starting this week by assessing the personalities of everyone on your team and creating action steps you can take to play to each person's strengths in the future.

   Many simple yet effective resources are created when I train my individual clients. A problem or situation arises and you create a resource tool to help them get a better result.

   In this example, a client training my employer wanted to better hold the support team accountable, so I created a performance appraisal tool.

  This promotes regular communication with each team member about their specific performance of what they are responsible for. 

  It allows the team member to feel good about their progress and helps the employer feel more confident about what is being done and the level of performance. 

  You, just like my clients, will benefit from using this simple and effective performance appraisal of every member of your team. Assign it to each person on your team based on the job description. 

  More specifically, each team member should allocate it to themselves, and you agree with it. Schedule a meeting every 90 days to review progress in each area you measure.