It is easy to encounter conflicts in your personal or professional life without going out of your way. A conflict can arise as a result of difference of views and opinions, or unmet expectations of someone or something.
Professionally, the stakes can be higher with consequences that may affect someone’s career, making it essential to practice perfecting these skills during your higher education years.
What Is Conflict Resolution?
Conflict resolution is a strategy that allows both parties to agree on a common solution while keeping their disagreement aside. The idea is to find a solution that satisfies both parties. You can adopt a formal or informal approach to conflict resolution.
Effective conflict resolution can help restore a working relationship between two parties and devise ways for better collaboration in the future. Therefore, conflict resolution is not only about solving the problem at hand but making sure that specific issues never arise again.
4 Skills You Need for Conflict Resolution
Here are four skills that will help you resolve a conflict in a personal and professional setup.
#1 – Negotiation
Once you step into your professional life after college, you will have to deal with difficult situations and people. For this, you will have to be a good negotiator. Conflict management is all about coming to a solution that’s acceptable for both parties.
Therefore, you must learn to be flexible and accommodate the other party’s opinion. A self-centric approach is not going to do you any favors. It would be best not to think of it as a conflict but as a problem that needs a solution.
Taking on a leadership role in your college life, such as being a team captain or head of the student body, will give you ample opportunities to develop your negotiation skills.
#2 – Learn to be Unbiased
As a leader, one of your responsibilities may include acting as an intermediary and trying to resolve a conflict between two parties, while putting your bias aside. Participating in college activities that require solving conflicts between students will help you learn how to be neutral.
If you are involved in a dispute with a fellow student, it is best to reflect on your opinion to see if it has any flaws. This will help you give up being stern, agree to a mutually beneficial solution, and overcome various challenges in your professional life.
#3- Reconciliation
Ever been in an argument or disagreement with a fellow student or a friend? You can learn to reconcile the differences by finding a middle ground. This method is also known as “compromise.” You must be open to agreeing to a mutually beneficial solution to settle a dispute. Both parties must be willing to forfeit some of their demands and agree to the other party’s demands as well.
Compromise can come in handy to follow a temporary solution while both parties work on a long-term solution.
#4 – Communication and Collaboration
A leader must be a good communicator and have a collaborative approach to working with a team. Your words and actions can inspire those who look up to you. At a college, you can get a lot of opportunities to inspire fellow students and be a figure of authority by taking on responsible roles. You must learn to be a good communicator and know how to collaborate with others when trying to solve an issue.
This will help you voice your opinion and listen to the other side of the story. As an intermediary facilitating a conflict resolution between two parties, your communication skills will come in handy for smooth negotiations.
Conclusion
You may come across conflicts in various areas of your life. However, the four skills you just learned about in this post will help you reach a resolution in a more convenient and friendly way. Staying in control of your emotions, keeping arrogance aside, and showing a willingness to agree to a common solution will help you overcome any disagreement in any situation.
