The biggest mistake leaders make when dealing with conflict is not giving themselves options.
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We all have personality traits, behavioural styles and communication preferences that are deeply ingrained.
However, relying on your defaults in conflict situations is a mistake.
This ignores the context, and prevents you from exploring options that may offer better outcomes.
Also, if you are known to always behave in a particular way, others can use this to your detriment.
So how should you respond to conflict?
According to the Thomas-Kilmann framework, your response in a conflict situation should be based on the relative importance of the Issue, and the Relationship with the people involved.
When both Issue and Relationship are unimportant, avoid engaging.
When the Issue is not that important for you, but matters to the other person, try accommodation.
When the Issue is important, and Relationship less so, the recommended strategy is competition
When both Issue and Relationship are important, choose collaboration.
When you can’t quite figure out what you value more, or when the other strategies can’t be applied, go for compromise.
Look at every situation afresh and choose the right conflict handling strategy
