How can organisations create an environment where employees resolve conflicts themselves? Have you ever wished to have a proactive environment in your organisation? Have you ever considered that this could be not only a beautiful setting, but also an impactful and productive one?
So where are you now?
Maybe your organisation is made of young new members, which means they are excited but lack some experience in their roles. Perhaps some members are only focused on doing their tasks as fast as possible so they can leave at 5:01 pm; exiting without adding real value, which means their values are not in line with the organisations’ mission.
Potentially the organisation has tried to support and provide training and bridge some urgent challenges without great success.
Where do you want your organisation to be?
Visualise a moment in time when your organisation has trained members and now they can be delegated. Create a picture of the members in your organisation aligned with the company’s values; now they are achieving their goals they are able to exceed the company’s targets.
Envision a moment where there is a sense of ownership in your team, where the teams own what they do and work in a proactive manner. If this is your organisation and you understand that there is a gap between where you are and where you want to be, I believe this gap can be closed by empowering your team.
Here are some great ways to empower your team:
- Promote a culture of diversity. We often think of diversity in terms of race, sex, and background, but diversity is also understanding that we all have a different mind map. Therefore each member has to acknowledge that their mind map is different from others and this is where we complement each other.
- Educate the team to trade expectations for appreciation; if we learn to expect less from each other but simply appreciate the experience, the tips and values brought in make for sure progress. You would be surprised by how some people will go the extra mile just because they feel valued and appreciated.
- Identify the needs of each other. Behind any action there is a need that gets met in an empowering way or a disempowering way. For example, a member that tends to take risks (by showing initiative) has a need for variety, whereas someone who always waits for directions and orders, depends on certainty. If someone is a team player and wants to get everybody involved and someone else tends to do all the work and get the entire credit, we have a situation where the first one does things to meet his need of connection, meanwhile the other is motivated by his own significance. Mastering how to identify the needs of the team is crucial if you want them to resolve conflicts by themselves.
- Avoid blank assumptions but always ask powerful questions. Communication is not complicated; we just need to learn to make fewer statements and ask more questions. These questions have to be open in order to allow the other person to elaborate. Questions have to be contextually intelligent, by which I mean, start your questions with words like: When, What, Where, Who, etc.
- Verify and clarify. When an assignment is given or when a handover has to be made, clarify to ensure you understand the communication, direction or order. The person who gave it must then verify it was done and executed correctly.
