What's the Cost of Conflict in your workplace?
When we think of conflict we picture people shouting and fighting. Essentially the fight mode, however there is flight and freeze modes that often happen and these are just as damaging to our relationships and teams if not more so. In any of the modes we are in when we get to the preservation stage of conflict all we care about is ourselves and our own values and beliefs. We no longer care about the other person or even the purpose.
In addition to how we react to conflict our motives behind our behaviours can change, this is when we make statement like 'they aren't the person I thought they were'. It appears a person can change completely and this can make us uncertain of that person and impacts our trust.
Teams are made up of relationships and are there to achieve a purpose that cannot be achieved through one person alone. Therefore destruction of trust and collaboration has a significant impact:
- 85% of employees say they experience conflict of those 16% say conflict remains unresolved.
- Employees spends an average of 2.1 hours a week dealing with conflict, with HR spending 1-5 hours a week resolving conflicts.
- 27% of employees have witnessed conflict morph into personal attacks
- 25% of employees avoid conflict by being absent
- 37% of workers report being sworn or yelled at in the workplace
- 39% of mental disorder claims are caused by harassment, bullying or exposure to violence
- $24,500 average mental health compensation payout
So if you just take your total wages bill and times it by 5.25% (2.1/38) this will give you an indicative figure for cost of time add to that your total revenue times by 5.25% to calculate lost opportunities. Finally add in your sickness costs due to mental disorder along with turnover costs for employees who leave due to work environment or conflicts plus the cost of disciplinary, grievance and bullying disputes and you will start to develop a cost to your organisation. This probably takes your organisation into the hundreds or thousands of dollars.
You'll be pleased to know there is a way to manage conflict creating positive challenges and collaboration in teams. It's through knowing each other well, now and identify the stages of conflict so that employees have the tools to recognise when friction is present and de-escalate the situation to keep focus on collaboration.
Recognising the stages of conflict:
When things are going well we are collaborating - focused on all elements of the relationship equally - purpose, me and you
When we start to disagree on purpose or process then we feel Friction between us but we are are still focused on all the elements of the relationship - purpose, me and you (maybe just a little less focussed on you)
When we go into Battle this is where we no longer taking into account the 'you' in the relationship and are only focused on two elements - purpose and me
Finally when we are in preservation mode purpose and you no longer exist and it's all about one element - me
Being able to recognise this de-sent into conflict can equip teams to put a halt to the process and engage reverse gear to get us back up the slop.
It's like getting caught in a rip tide if you fight the current you become exhausted and ultimately can die however if you recognise what's happening early enough you can manage the situation allow yourself to relax and follow the current until you are at the right position to swim out of danger.
I work with organisations every week that have teams that are in constant conflict and it is costing the organisations significant amounts in terms of revenue and expenses. The programme I use has proven measurable results in rebuilding teams to be collaborative and successful, while still being able to challenge and have disputes.
Resources for further reading:
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/topic/mental-health
https://www.ahri.com.au/media/1223/wellbeing_workplacesurvey2018_final.pdf
