Emotions as a lever for conflict resolution

A constantly evolving professional world

Businesses operate in a complex and fast-paced world. Many events linked to the life of the company, such as a reorganization, a merger/acquisition, a change of strategy, a new project, a new member in the team, a new competing product, budgetary constraints, etc. will impact the teams.

To meet these many challenges, they need, among other things, multidisciplinary approaches, the inclusion of diverse points of view and multicultural openness. Within teams, each person, depending on their representations of the world, their values or their experience, will inevitably perceive and analyze events differently. If this diversity is indeed what is sought, these individual analyzes will nevertheless lead to diverse emotional reactions in each member of the team. Without healthy management of these emotions, the Team dynamics can evolve into conflict. Positions risk becoming stiffer, clumsy words may be said or hostile actions taken. It is then potentially an escalation towards the creation of coalitions, the expression of threats and, ultimately, towards a confrontation destructive for all.

Emotional management as a lever for conflict resolution

On the other hand, emotions can be

• identified (what emotion am I feeling: anger, fear, sadness, joy etc ),

• understood (what’s behind this emotion: a perception of an invasion, of a danger, of a loss, of an opportunity etc ; what values, believes, experiences are involved in this emotional reaction ; what’s my need in relation to this),

• regulated (what positive thing am I going to do with this; how can I share it in a healthy way within the group).

An increased emotional self-awareness will possibly  lead  to higher empathy through a genuine interest for others’ emotions. The door to a constructive and inclusive dialogue can then be opened, leading to the search for common, sustainable and value-creating solutions. The working climate will be healthier and well-being strengthened.

Even if the management of emotions is increasingly recognized as an area of personal and leadership development by many companies, there still remains a strong belief that emotions have no place at work. However, emotional skills are key to finding solutions together to the complex problems that companies and their teams must face.

Managing emotions as a lever for conflict resolution is an essential area of work in my activity as a mediator and conflict coach. Do you want to improve conflict management in your team? Contact me to find out how I can support you.

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