Article about workplace conflict

Part 1: Do a little research online describe some strategies you have found to help resolve conflict.  

This article about workplace conflict by Hayes covers a few of the points I feel are the most helpful at dealing with workplace conflict. Presume positive intentions is #1- and I think it is with good reason. Most people are trying to do their best and are not trying to be difficult. If you approach problems with this in mind, it makes everything easier, builds respect when everyone in the workplace agrees to view each other as positive, and changes how you interact with problems. Address the problem, not the person -By addressing the issue rather than attacking the person, it makes it easier for the person you are managing to see the concerns, not as an attack on themselves which will send them straight into defensive mode (Hayes,2017). Listen for the complaint in the request- this is one I had not heard before, and I found this to be interesting. Hayes states that people complain because of not getting what they want or need in the workplace, and if you listen for the complaint, and don’t join into complaint mode, and listen so you can resolve the complaint (problem)

For part two of this discussion, I have a few different thoughts on email training, which may or may not be practical. First, If the lab adopts a standard way to email and rules for email, this does a few things for communication and efficacy of work speed. Say the lab adopts a standard of emailing status updates at the end of the lab week to cc all in that lab team, this means everyone gets to see what the progress is, and is very much like what would be in place if there was a project Gantt chart in place. If a rule was action items highlighted in color, let’s say green, people would know to check for the green highlighted areas. If emails requiring a response are all coded in a particular way, say code 44, all would know those emails need an actual email back. These little things seem small but make a big difference, as all will come into the lab with different email habits and quirks. Having everyone on a standard ruled set of how to use the email and when is a great place to start.

Where I used to work, back in the day, we had to highlight any questions in yellow. The people responding had to ensure that if they were asked three questions, they indeed answered three questions back in their response email and all emails were bcc to the store manager for a record, but all knew this, so no one typed crazy stuff in the emails. Currently, I do mostly volunteer work with PTA, the Elementary school, and my church. However, I still highlight the questions that need responses, and sadly usually will only get 2 answers back if I ask 3 questions, so I have found that emails are great for one or two items. Still, if it gets more complicated, people either need an outline or a follow-up to the original email.