problem solving negotiation and leadership are examples of hard skills

Problem-solving in Leadership: How to Master the 5 Key Skills

The role of problem-solving in enhancing team morale, the right approach to problem-solving in leadership, developing problem-solving skills in leadership, leadership problem-solving examples.

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What’s the Role of Problem-solving in Leadership?

Getting to the root of the issue: First, Sarah starts by looking at the numbers for the past few months. She identifies the products for which sales are falling. She then attempts to correlate it with the seasonal nature of consumption or if there is any other cause hiding behind the numbers.
Identifying the sources of the problem: In the next step, Sarah attempts to understand why sales are falling. Is it the entry of a new competitor in the next neighborhood, or have consumption preferences changed over time? She asks some of her present and past customers for feedback to get more ideas.
Putting facts on the table: Next up, Sarah talks to her sales team to understand their issues. They could be lacking training or facing heavy workloads, impacting their productivity. Together, they come up with a few ideas to improve sales.
Selection and application: Finally, Sarah and her team pick up a few ideas to work on after analyzing their costs and benefits. They ensure adequate resources, and Sarah provides support by guiding them wherever needed during the planning and execution stage.
Identifying the root cause of the problem.
Brainstorming possible solutions.
Evaluating those solutions to select the best one.
Implementing it.

Analytical thinking: Analytical thinking skills refer to a leader’s abilities that help them analyze, study, and understand complex problems. It allows them to dive deeper into the issues impacting their teams and ensures that they can identify the causes accurately.
Critical Thinking: Critical thinking skills ensure leaders can think beyond the obvious. They enable leaders to question assumptions, break free from biases, and analyze situations and facts for accuracy.
Creativity: Problems are often not solved straightaway. Leaders need to think out of the box and traverse unconventional routes. Creativity lies at the center of this idea of thinking outside the box and creating pathways where none are apparent.
Decision-making: Cool, you have three ways to go. But where to head? That’s where decision-making comes into play – fine-tuning analysis and making the choices after weighing the pros and cons well.
Effective Communication: Last but not at the end lies effective communication that brings together multiple stakeholders to solve a problem. It is an essential skill to collaborate with all the parties in any issue. Leaders need communication skills to share their ideas and gain support for them.

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On Leadership

Insights from the University at Buffalo School of Management

Leadership and negotiations: Better skills that will get you better deals

To be most effective, leaders should add a critical skill to their arsenal: the ability to negotiate. UB School of Management expert Kate Bezrukova shares her insights on how to plan and prepare for a negotiation.

Two professionals come to an agreement after a negotiation.

By Kate Bezrukova

How much do you know about being a leader?

Decades of research have told us a lot about what leaders do—or what they try to do—as well as how they act and what drives them. In fact, most people, when pressed, probably have a pretty good idea of what goes into being a good leader, even without taking a course on the topic.

On the first day of my undergraduate organizational behavior classes, I sometimes ask students what they think a leader does and what good leadership looks like. Every time, I get responses like “a great communicator,” “inspires others to work hard” and “has a vision for their company.” These are all perfectly fine answers, in many cases backed up by research.

But sometimes we think we know more about leaders than we really do. For example, are tall people really better leaders? It seems unlikely, but many people seem to think so. Research shows taller people get promoted more easily and make more money too. Tim Judge and others found that a 6-foot-tall person makes, on average, $166,000 more during a 30-year career than someone who is 5 feet, 5 inches, even after controlling for age and gender.

The reality is that our views on what makes a good leader are often based on our perceptions of being led, rather than objective metrics of leader performance. Dean Keith Simonton’s research considered 100 personal attributes of U.S. presidents, yet only three traits were correlated with how effective the presidents were: Height, family size and number of books published before taking office (even these reasons may be due to statistical chance only).

So what hope is there for short people or those from other demographically underrepresented groups in a world seemingly biased against them becoming leaders? That’s where a good leadership course comes in—capturing less obvious paths to effective leadership.

For example, one branch of leadership study, called leader-member exchange, focuses on interactions between leaders and followers. On the surface, leader-member exchange sounds easy: The leader says do this, and it’s the subordinate’s responsibly to do it. But have you ever worked with someone, either as the supervisor or employee, and sort of knew what they wanted without giving or receiving explicit directions? That’s the concept of moqi, a Chinese word (pronounced MO-chee) that roughly means an unspoken understanding between two people. In the leadership realm, this can refer to cases where leaders have built up, over time, such a rapport with subordinates they don’t need to give directions.

Wielding power

That brings us to another important aspect of leadership: the use of power. For too many people, power means making people doing things (coercion). But power can also come from more useful sources, including the information or talent you have that others don’t, your charisma or the fact that others depend on you for something.

Moreover, I’m not sure how important coercion is in the workplace these days. After all, a leader can say, “Do this or you are fired!” but in a pandemic-impacted world—where significant numbers are leaving or not returning to their jobs for various reasons—that threat may not carry as much weight as you think.

Negotiating a deal

Rather than trying to force people to do things, leaders should add an important skill to their arsenal: the ability to negotiate. Negotiation is essentially about getting people to do what you want, and generally involves two or more interdependent parties with conflicting interests attempting to resolve their differences.

Interestingly, many people don’t want to negotiate at all because negotiation involves conflict and takes time and energy. Others say, “That’s not my style,” or “I didn’t realize it was an option; I thought the offer was take it or leave it.” Still others feel they have no chance of winning because the power differential is too great (“I can’t negotiate with my boss”) or because a third party will make the final decision.

Yet none of these reasons are as important as the reason to negotiate: If you don’t, people will take advantage of you and you will leave a lot of value on the table.

And yes, even if you negotiate, you may still leave value on the table, so the question becomes: What does it take to negotiate effectively?

The answer is relatively simple: planning and preparation. In fact, negotiation experts recommend spending one minute of preparation for each minute of actual negotiation (so if you anticipate your negotiation may last half an hour, then you need to prepare for at least half an hour).

Below are things you should think through that will make a big difference when you sit down to negotiate:

Issues: Items to negotiate that will be included in the formal agreement. Believe it not, sometimes we get dragged into a negotiation without realizing what is even being negotiated.
Resistance Point: Your minimum acceptable settlement—the point beyond which you will not go, when you are indifferent to whether a negotiation reaches agreement or enters in impasse.
Target/Aspiration Point: Your ideal point, when you get everything you want or the price you are happy to pay/accept.
BATNA: Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement, a backup plan or plan B. Having a strong BATNA gives you the most power and confidence in your negotiation.

Though many avoid it, negotiation is an important part of everyday life and an essential skill for leaders. An effective leader is likely to have good negotiation skills and be able to tap multiple sources of power and adept at both one-on-one exchanges and relationships with bigger groups. When you develop these skills, the rewards can be nearly boundless for your career.

Kate Bezrukova, PhD , is an associate professor of organization and human resources in the University at Buffalo School of Management . She teaches courses on organizational behavior and negotiations, and is an expert on team chemistry, managing a diverse workforce, negotiations and gender, and conflict management. Bezrukova recently co-authored a peer-reviewed case study—based on the U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations—that was published by the Kellogg School of Management’s Dispute Resolution Research Center .

10 essential negotiation skills to help you get what you want

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The art of negotiation

Why are negotiation skills important, 4 stages of negotiation, 10 essential negotiation skills, how to improve your negotiation skills, 5 careers that require negotiation skills, seal the deal.

Requesting a salary increase. Buying a house. Deciding who does the dishes.

Negotiating skills aren’t only for salespeople or corporate deal-makers. Everyone, at some point, will need to know how to deal. The more you practice, the better you’ll become — as will the people you’re negotiating with.

Many essential negotiation skills are the same leadership skills you’ve likely cultivated over the years. It’s just a matter of leveraging them to persuade your audience .

Negotiation is a strategic dialogue where two or more parties aim to receive something — and they want to convince the listener to give it to them. Ultimately, the hope is that everyone walks away feeling good about the outcome. This means negotiations often end in compromise to ensure the results satisfy all parties.

Humans have always negotiated. It was an essential skill that ensured communities had enough resources to survive life-or-death challenges . A lot has changed over the last 200,000 years. In most cases, the consequences are less dire, but negotiation is still a big part of life.

While negotiations might seem limited to big decisions like international trade treaties or legal disputes, anytime you work to maintain a relationship through compromise, you’re negotiating.

Despite being a common occurrence, not everyone feels comfortable bargaining. A study of millennial workers found that 25% of new employees fail to negotiate a job offer because they don’t know how . But the same study found that, when new hires do bargain their salary, about 44% gain what they asked for and another 30% achieve a compromise.

But developing your negotiation skills doesn’t only improve your financial outlook. Becoming a better negotiator can help you:

Build confidence
Ensure everyone’s treated fairly
Improve your strategic planning skills

The first step to becoming a skilled negotiator is understanding the process. From there, you’ll know which negotiation skill to apply.

Start by deciding where and when the meeting should occur, who should attend, and the challenge you’ll discuss. Establishing a timeline for your bargaining session can discourage ongoing arguments.

Once you set a time and place, move through the four steps of the negotiation process.

Thorough preparation is vital to effective negotiation . Clarify your understanding of the facts and gather supporting evidence that could improve your position. Once you've learned all the pertinent details, ask yourself:

What’s the nature of the conflict?

What do I want to achieve?

What alternatives am I willing to accept?

What am I willing to give up?

What’s non-negotiable?

What are the other party’s goals?

Is the other party willing to settle?

At what point should I walk away?

By fully understanding your position and thoroughly preparing your arguments, you’ll reduce the chance of conflict at the negotiation table and remain focused on finding a solution.

Man-using-laptop-from-home-negotiation-skills

During the discussion phase, both parties must thoroughly explain their side. It’s possible at this stage that emotions come to the fore. You need to appear objective, so controlling your feelings is imperative. Explain how you arrived at your current position and present your research. Ask open-ended questions to glean the information necessary to understand their perspective. You could ask:

How did you arrive at this conclusion?

What do you think of this alternative?

Why is this item of negotiation important to you?

What part of the solution causes the most concern?

Is there anything else I should know?

Make sure everyone’s clear about their goals, as misunderstandings can derail your negotiations. And try to identify any common ground you can leverage in the next step.

3. Negotiate

Now, the hard work begins. Discuss options and present alternatives, focusing on a win-win outcome — where both sides gain something. Each party should feel heard.

Use all the information gathered during the preparation and discussion stages to inform your arguments and strengthen your case. Listen to what the other side has to say . If their argument makes sense, prepare to adjust your position.

It’s essential to stick to the issues at hand and remain objective. Emotions can lead to poor decision-making , so keep them in check by using critical thinking skills to balance your feelings against logic.

4. Find an agreement

Considering everyone’s perspective and interests, decide on something you all feel good about. Keep an open mind during this part, as you might need to part with some of your requests. If you’re negotiating your salary, for example, you might have to accept more flexible working conditions if your employer simply doesn’t have the budget for a raise .

Make sure you document all terms, clarifying everything along the way to ensure nobody’s dissatisfied or confused in the future. You should also agree on how you’ll monitor the agreement’s conditions.

If necessary, formalize the negotiated terms as a legal contract. Once that’s done, both parties implement and monitor the agreed-upon terms.

Successful negotiators rely on an extensive skill set to build relationships, gather and evaluate information, and make the best decisions possible . Here are 10 negotiation skill examples to consider when preparing for your next negotiation.

1. Communication

You need effective communication skills to make your intentions clear and establish boundaries . If you don’t articulate yourself well, you might cause confusion and frustration, and you want to set limits to ensure you don’t give more than you take. And be sensitive to non-verbal communication , like body language . The more information you have about how the other side feels — like nervous or arrogant behavior — the better you can tweak your negotiation tactics to suit.

Man-and-woman-coworkers-talking-friendly-at-break-room-negotiation-skills

2. Active listening

Active listening skills ensure you engage with and retain important negotiation details. Asking questions , paraphrasing, and providing feedback demonstrate you’re trying to see the situation from the other person’s point of view. These actions help establish a relationship based on empathy and trust, which can ease tense discussions.

3. Emotional intelligence

As much as everyone tries to remain objective and not take things personally, emotions often come into play during a negotiation. Emotional intelligence allows you to channel your emotions productively while giving you insight into how the other party feels. Cultivating this awareness helps you understand the implications of what they say, not just their explicit meaning.

4. Expectation management

Both sides have goals, and you won’t meet them all. You must prioritize those outcomes to ensure their inclusion as part of a “good deal” without making promises you can’t deliver. Expectation management requires balancing being steadfast in your negotiations against collaborating with the other party to reach an agreement.

5. Patience

Negotiations are time-consuming, often involving offers, counteroffers, and renegotiations. You need to be patient . Take your time to fully evaluate terms and assess information to ensure you don’t miss anything that could compromise the deal’s quality.

6. Adaptability

Thinking on your feet and developing new plans on the fly are integral to negotiation. Each situation presents unique challenges and opportunities. Your approach must be flexible to offer individualized solutions or adjust negotiation strategies when faced with evolving demands.

7. Problem-solving

You're participating in a negotiation because you have a problem to solve . Maybe it’s access to a limited resource or a shifting budget . Whatever it is, your ability to identify options and alternatives that consider all aspects of the issue helps both parties achieve their desired outcome.

Woman-solving-work-problem-from-home-with-laptop-and-books-negotiation-skills

8. Value creation

Creating win-win scenarios for negotiation means adding value to your offering. Consider suggesting alternatives that don’t cost you anything but benefit the other party. You could negotiate a shorter payment window if you accept three smaller weekly shipments rather than two larger ones, for example, lowering your warehousing costs.

9. Decision-making

Good negotiators are adept at quickly evaluating options and not overthinking a decision . If you hit decision fatigue or analysis paralysis early on, the discussion won’t go anywhere, and you might simply accept whatever terms they suggest to escape the stressful situation . Assertiveness removes stress and uncertainty from the process the other party could use to their advantage.

10. Integrity

Negotiations require fairness, respect, and honesty. You need to demonstrate your trustworthiness by following through on your commitments. Otherwise, people might not want to collaborate with you in the future.

If becoming a better negotiator is on your to-do list, here are a few suggestions to level up your skills:

Practice: The more you negotiate, the better you’ll become. If you don’t have many real-world opportunities to bargain, role-play with a friend or mentor . Create simulations that require different negotiation styles to become more comfortable.

Build your confidence: Confidence is key to successful negotiations. You instill assurance in the listener when you feel self-assured, making it more likely they’ll agree to your terms. And without confidence, they might perceive you as underprepared and unsure of your terms.

Set goals: Walk into a negotiation knowing what you want, how you hope to achieve it , and where your compromise boundary is. This gives you a clear path toward your goal and options for counter offers if needed.

Make the first offer: Take control of the negotiation by setting the baseline. This defines the standard for discussion and forces bargaining to move forward from your chosen position.

Learn from experience: Whether your negotiation was successful or not, take time to review your performance . Evaluate what went well and where you need improvement. Once you identify your weaknesses, you can address them through further negotiation training.

Man-listening-actively-at-meeting-negotiation-skills

To make negotiation your full-time job, consider these careers:

Lawyers negotiate settlements in civil lawsuits, plea deals, and sentencing in criminal cases

Mediators are experts in conflict resolution and handle situations like helping hostile parties avoid costly litigation or assisting broker agreements

Entertainment or sports agents assist clients by negotiating for better pay, working conditions, and promotional considerations

Diplomats conduct business on behalf of their home country’s government, which might involve collaborating with other governmental representatives to develop trade agreements and resolve conflicts

Real estate agents assist with selling or purchasing homes and private or commercial properties, and this often involves negotiating prices, closing dates, and repairs

Practicing negotiation skills benefits every area of your life. Learning to collaborate , communicate, and read body language can help you become a better coworker, partner, and friend.

Start small, first preparing simple asks (maybe to lower your rent slightly). Then evaluate the listener’s nonverbal cues and information delivery, trying different negotiation techniques to achieve what you want.

As you foster your skills in low-risk situations and learn what works, you can apply these tactics to larger-scale situations, like adjusting your salary or gaining a significant discount on a new house.

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Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

Professional development is for everyone (We’re looking at you)

Your work performance will sky-rocket with these 13 tips, how to set short-term professional goals, discover how professional coaching can boost your career growth, effective negotiation tactics to level-up your career, 15 human resources skills to help your resume stand out, the pros and cons of working as a contractor versus an employee, vocational skills: what they are and how to develop them, career pathing for employees at all levels, similar articles, 4 negotiation strategies: get to “yes” quicker, what’s persuasion leverage these tactics to persuade your audience, discover the 7 essential types of life skills you need, how to negotiate a job offer (5 actionable tips), entry-level salary negotiation examples: get paid what you deserve, finding common ground with anyone: a quick and easy guide, how to negotiate: 7 tips for effective negotiation, asking for a raise: tips to get what you’re worth, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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8 Essential Leadership Communication Skills

14 Nov 2019

If you want to be an effective leader , you need to excel in communication. In fact, the success of your business relies on it.

According to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) , poor communication can lead to low morale, missed performance goals, and even lost sales. A separate study found that inadequate communication can cost large companies an average of $64.2 million per year, while smaller organizations are at risk of losing $420,000 annually.

But effective communication impacts more than just the bottom line. For leaders, it’s what enables them to rally their team around a shared vision, empower employees , build trust, and successfully navigate organizational change .

Why Is Communication Important in Leadership?

A leader is someone who inspires positive, incremental change by empowering those around them to work toward common objectives. A leader’s most powerful tool for doing so is communication.

Effective communication is vital to gain trust, align efforts in the pursuit of goals, and inspire positive change. When communication is lacking, important information can be misinterpreted, causing relationships to suffer and, ultimately, creating barriers that hinder progress.

If you’re interested in enhancing your leadership capabilities, here are eight communication skills you need to be more effective in your role.

How to Become a More Effective Leader | Access Your Free E-Book | Download Now

Essential Communication Skills for Leaders

1. ability to adapt your communication style.

Different communication styles are the most frequently cited cause of poor communication, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) , and can lead to more significant issues, such as unclear priorities and increased stress.

It’s essential to identify your leadership style , so that you can better understand how you’re interacting with, and perceived by, employees across the organization. For example, if you’re an authoritative leader , you likely have a clear vision for achieving success and align your team accordingly. While an effective approach for some, it might fall flat for others who seek more autonomy in their role.

Every employee’s motivations are different, so knowing how to tailor your communication is essential to influencing others and reaching organizational goals.

Related: 4 Tips for Developing Your Personal Leadership Style

2. Active Listening

Effective leaders know when they need to talk and, more importantly, when they need to listen. Show that you care by asking for employees’ opinions, ideas, and feedback. And when they do share, actively engage in the conversation—pose questions, invite them to elaborate, and take notes.

It’s important to stay in the moment and avoid interrupting. Keep your focus on the employee and what it is they’re saying. To achieve that, you also need to eliminate any distractions, including constant pings on your cell phone or checking incoming emails.

3. Transparency

In a survey by the American Management Association , more than a third of senior managers, executives, and employees said they “hardly ever” know what’s going on in their organizations. Transparency can go a long way in breaking down that communication barrier.

By speaking openly about the company’s goals, opportunities, and challenges, leaders can build trust amongst their team and foster an environment where employees feel empowered to share their ideas and collaborate. Just acknowledging mistakes can encourage experimentation and create a safe space for active problem-solving.

Every individual should understand the role they play in the company’s success. The more transparent leaders are, the easier it is for employees to make that connection.

When communicating with employees, speak in specifics. Define the desired result of a project or strategic initiative and be clear about what you want to see achieved by the end of each milestone. If goals aren’t being met, try simplifying your message further or ask how you can provide additional clarity or help.

The more clear you are, the less confusion there will be around priorities. Employees will know what they’re working toward and feel more engaged in the process.

5. Ability to Ask Open-Ended Questions

If you want to understand employees’ motivations, thoughts, and goals better, practice asking open-ended questions. Jennifer Currence, president of consulting firm The Currence Group, said to the Society of Human Resource Management to use the acronym TED, which stands for:

“ T ell me more.”
“ E xplain what you mean.”
“ D efine that term or concept for me.”

By leveraging those phrases when speaking with your team, you can elicit more thoughtful, thorough responses and ensure you also have clarity around what they need from you to succeed.

There’s a reason empathy has been ranked the top leadership skill needed for success . The better you get at acknowledging and understanding employees’ feelings and experiences, the more heard and valued they’ll feel.

In a recent survey (pdf) , 96 percent of respondents said it was important for their employers to demonstrate empathy, yet 92 percent claimed it remains undervalued. If you want to improve your communication and build a stronger, more productive culture, practice responding with empathy.

Related: Emotional Intelligence Skills: What They Are & How to Develop Them

7. Open Body Language

Communication isn’t just what you say; it’s how you carry yourself. Ninety-three percent of communication’s impact comes from nonverbal cues, according to executive coach Darlene Price .

To ensure you’re conveying the right message, focus on your body language. If you’re trying to inspire someone, talking with clenched fists and a furrowed brow isn’t going to send the right message. Instead, make eye contact to establish interest and rapport and flash a genuine smile to convey warmth and trust.

8. Receiving and Implementing Feedback

Asking for feedback from your team can not only help you grow as a leader, but build trust among your colleagues. It’s critical, though, that you don’t just listen to the feedback. You also need to act on it.

If you continue to receive feedback from your team, but don’t implement any changes, they’re going to lose faith in your ability to follow through. It’s likely there will be comments you can’t immediately act on—be transparent about that. By letting your employees know they were heard and then apprising them of any progress you can, or do, make, they’ll feel as though you value their perspective and are serious about improving.

Related: How to Give Feedback Effectively

Leadership Principles | Unlock your leadership potential | Learn More

Improving Your Leadership Communication

Communication is at the core of effective leadership. If you want to influence and inspire your team, you need to practice empathy and transparency, and understand how others perceive you, through your verbal and non-verbal cues.

To improve your communication skills and become a better leader, begin by assessing your effectiveness so you can identify areas for improvement. Then, set goals and hold yourself accountable by creating a leadership development plan to guide and track your progress.

Do you want to enhance your leadership skills? Download our free leadership e-book and explore our online course Leadership Principles to discover how you can become a more effective leader and unleash the potential in yourself and others.

(This post was updated on June 16, 2020. It was originally published on November 14, 2019.)

About the Author

Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Skills for Corporate Leaders

In the dynamic landscape of corporate leadership, conflict resolution and negotiation skills are indispensable. Corporate leaders, tasked with steering their organizations toward success, often find themselves navigating complex interpersonal dynamics and business negotiations. This article explores the crucial role of conflict resolution and negotiation skills in corporate leadership and how mastering the art of effective presentations enhances a leader’s ability to navigate challenges, build collaborative environments, and achieve successful negotiations.

Understanding Conflict Resolution and Negotiation:

1. Conflict Resolution:

Conflict is an inherent aspect of any organizational setting. It can arise from differing opinions, competition for resources, or interpersonal tensions. Conflict resolution involves addressing and resolving these issues to maintain a positive and productive work environment.

2. Negotiation:

Negotiation is a strategic communication process where parties with conflicting interests seek a mutually beneficial agreement. In the corporate world, negotiations can occur in various scenarios, including mergers and acquisitions, contract discussions, and team collaborations.

Importance of Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Skills for Corporate Leaders:

Enhanced Decision-Making: Effective conflict resolution ensures that decisions are made collaboratively, drawing on diverse perspectives. Negotiation skills empower leaders to secure favorable outcomes, contributing to informed decision-making.

Improved Relationships: Successful conflict resolution fosters positive relationships among team members. Negotiation skills contribute to building strong partnerships with clients, vendors, and stakeholders.

Increased Productivity: Timely resolution of conflicts prevents prolonged disruptions, leading to increased productivity. Negotiation skills streamline business processes, minimizing delays and optimizing efficiency.

Effective Leadership: Leaders who excel in conflict resolution and negotiation inspire confidence and trust among their teams. These skills are integral to effective leadership, as leaders must navigate diverse challenges and interests within the organization.

Business Success: A corporate leader’s ability to navigate conflicts and negotiate successful deals directly impacts the overall success of the business. Strategic negotiations can lead to favorable partnerships, acquisitions, and business expansions.

Leadership Training for Conflict Resolution and Negotiation:

1. Active Listening:

Leaders use presentations to emphasize the importance of active listening in conflict resolution and negotiation. They demonstrate effective listening techniques and provide guidance on how to truly understand others’ perspectives.

2. Communication Skills:

Presentations serve as a tool to enhance communication skills. Leaders emphasize clarity, precision, and the impact of effective communication in resolving conflicts and negotiating successful outcomes.

3. Empathy Building:

Leaders use presentations to foster empathy. They share scenarios that require empathy in conflict resolution and negotiation, encouraging team members to understand others’ feelings and perspectives.

4. Decision-Making Strategies:

Leaders share decision-making strategies through presentations. They discuss methodologies for making informed decisions in conflict resolution and negotiation, highlighting the importance of considering various factors.

5. Negotiation Techniques:

Presentations are used to teach negotiation techniques. Leaders share proven strategies, such as win-win negotiation and collaborative problem-solving, to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

The Role of Effective Presentations in Conflict Resolution and Negotiation:

1. Setting Expectations:

Leadership Skill: Active Listening

Leaders use presentations to set expectations regarding active listening. They communicate the importance of listening to understand, not just to respond, fostering a culture of open communication.

2. Clarity in Communication:

Leadership Skill: Communication Skills

Leaders leverage presentations to emphasize clarity in communication. They provide examples of how misunderstandings can lead to conflicts and stress the significance of clear and concise communication.

3. Building Empathy:

Leadership Skill: Empathy Building

Presentations are a platform for building empathy. Leaders share stories and scenarios that require empathy, encouraging team members to step into others’ shoes and consider alternative perspectives.

4. Decision-Making Transparency:

Leadership Skill: Decision-Making Strategies

Leaders use presentations to outline decision-making strategies. They emphasize transparency in the decision-making process, ensuring that team members understand the rationale behind decisions related to conflicts and negotiations.

5. Negotiation Strategy Communication:

Leadership Skill: Negotiation Techniques

Leaders communicate negotiation techniques through presentations. They share successful negotiation stories, discuss different approaches, and provide guidance on adapting strategies to specific situations.

Strategies for Using Effective Presentations in Conflict Resolution and Negotiation:

Conflict Resolution Workshops: Conduct presentations as part of conflict resolution workshops. Cover topics such as identifying conflicts, active listening, and collaborative problem-solving.

Negotiation Skill Development Sessions: Use presentations to facilitate negotiation skill development sessions. Provide insights into negotiation techniques, role-playing scenarios, and interactive discussions

Case Studies in Conflict Resolution: Present case studies during team meetings to illustrate successful conflict resolution strategies. Discuss the outcomes and the key elements that contributed to resolution.

Simulated Negotiation Exercises: Incorporate simulated negotiation exercises into presentations. Create scenarios where team members can practice negotiation skills in a controlled environment.

Guest Speakers on Conflict Resolution: Invite guest speakers through presentations to share their expertise in conflict resolution. Provide diverse perspectives and real-world examples to enrich the learning experience.

Case Study: Transforming Conflict into Collaboration through Effective Presentations:

Scenario: A corporate leader aims to resolve a conflict between two key departments and negotiate a strategic partnership.

Conflict Identification Presentation: The leader conducts a presentation to identify and acknowledge the existing conflict between the two departments. The presentation outlines the impact of the conflict on the organization and emphasizes the need for resolution.

Active Listening Workshop: A workshop on active listening is conducted through presentations. The leader provides practical tips and examples, encouraging team members to enhance their listening skills to better understand the concerns of both departments

Empathy-Building Stories: Presentations include empathy-building stories related to the conflict. The leader shares personal experiences and scenarios that require empathy, fostering a culture of understanding and collaboration.

Negotiation Strategies Presentation: The leader conducts a presentation on negotiation strategies. Various techniques, such as finding common ground and exploring win-win solutions, are discussed to prepare the team for negotiations.

Interactive Negotiation Simulation: A negotiation simulation is conducted through a presentation. The leader presents a hypothetical negotiation scenario, and team members participate in interactive discussions to practice negotiation skills.

Conclusion:

Conflict resolution and negotiation skills are the bedrock of effective corporate leadership. In the pursuit of organizational success, leaders must navigate challenges, foster collaboration, and secure favorable outcomes through negotiations. Mastering the art of effective presentations becomes a strategic advantage, enabling leaders to communicate expectations, build empathy, and teach essential skills. As corporate leaders integrate effective presentations into conflict resolution and negotiation training, they empower their teams to transform conflicts into opportunities for collaboration and negotiation into strategic advantages. In the intersection of conflict resolution, negotiation skills, and effective presentations lies the key to navigating success in the ever-evolving corporate landscape.

Hard skills vs. Soft skills

Ivan Andreev

Demand Generation & Capture Strategist, Valamis

November 27, 2021 · updated April 25, 2024

6 minute read

When seeking new recruits or considering internal promotions, it’s essential to identify the specific skills required for each role. Some of these skills are innate, while others may require formal training.

Hard skills should be outlined in the role specification, detailing the technical competencies needed. Soft skills, which encompass interpersonal and emotional intelligence, should be included in the person specification.

By reading this guide, you will gain the ability to clearly distinguish between the hard and soft skills necessary for your open positions. Additionally, this insight will prove invaluable for individuals aiming to enhance their resumes and effectively showcase their top skills.

What are hard skills?

What are soft skills, what’s the difference between hard skills and soft skills, list of hard and soft skills, how to develop hard and soft skills.

Hard skills vs soft skills: what is the difference?

Hard skills are specific competencies, skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to perform a specific task or role. They can be learned through education and professional development. Usually, they are technical (but not always) and easily measurable.

Hard skills can be evidenced through educational certificates or practical demonstrations.

Take software development, for instance. It requires knowledge of programming languages, primarily aimed at writing computer programs. The proficiency level in this skill is readily measurable.

Consider the field of design as another example. While it varies—ranging from interior to web design—the fundamental requirement is a specific skill set tailored to perform precise tasks.

Knowledge of the Microsoft Suite is yet another hard skill. Learning to proficiently use tools like Microsoft Word and Excel is often crucial for specific job functions.

Therefore, each role demands a unique set of hard skills essential for performing designated tasks effectively.

Soft skills are personality traits, social competencies and skills, knowledge, and abilities used to perform interpersonal activities and unique tasks. Sometimes they are also called human skills.

Soft skills often stem from your inherent personality traits and social abilities, though they can be honed through practice and professional development.

Measuring soft skills, especially when you’re hiring new employees, can be tricky due to the limited information available. You really get to know a person’s soft skills through personal interactions.

While there are techniques and tests aimed at assessing these skills, be aware that their results can be imprecise and not always reflective of true ability. It’s only in real-life situations that you can accurately see how well someone handles these areas.

There are certain soft skills you’d likely want all your team members to possess, such as punctuality and the ability to collaborate effectively. Other skills, like leadership, communication, strategic thinking, and problem-solving, might be crucial for specific roles.

Soft skills don’t come certified, but you’ll recognize them as you work with someone. Natural leaders will instinctively take charge and guide others, while reliable timekeepers consistently show up on time or inform you ahead of any delays.

Skills matrix template

Efficiently assess, manage, and maximize your team’s potential and streamline your workflow.

The key difference lies in the nature of soft skills, which are closely intertwined with an individual’s personality and aren’t always teachable.

While you can enroll your team members in courses to enhance leadership, communication, and other soft skills, there’s always an innate aspect to consider. Some people are naturally more inclined to possess strong leadership qualities than others.

Hard skills, on the other hand, are rooted in what people learn. These skills are task-specific and easier to teach. You can send people to development courses to acquire new hard skills or to refine existing ones.

As careers progress, people often need to adapt and enhance their skill sets, especially when stepping into leadership roles. They’ll need practical knowledge specific to their positions along with interpersonal skills that allow them to excel.

It’s important to note that your best employees might not necessarily excel in both soft and hard skills. While versatility is a bonus, not all roles demand expertise in both areas.

There are many hard and soft skills, so that we will list only a few.

Now that you know the difference between soft and hard skills, it’s time to analyze which ones need to be added to your organization. And what to do next?

You can check our article about employee development methods , we have mentioned what methods work best for different skills sets and particular skills.

It will help you find ways to train your employees and improve your own skills.

Regarding leadership skills check our leadership development plan guide because it is a unique skill set and it requires specific training.

One way to map, manage, and track the required skills and skill gaps of your employees is to use a skills matrix .

How to conduct a skills gap analysis and what to do next

Start building your foundation for strategic workforce development.

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By Hannah L. Miller Leaders Staff

Hannah L. Miller

Senior Editor

Hannah L. Miller, MA, is the senior editor for Leaders Media. Since graduating with her Master of Arts in 2015,...

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Updated May 17, 2023

Top 18 Conflict Resolution Skills Every Leader Needs

What is conflict, what is conflict in the workplace and why does it happen, what are conflict resolution skills, why leaders need conflict resolution skills, conflict resolution leadership qualities , how to resolve conflict, examples of conflict and resolutions , teach your team conflict resolution skills.

A study conducted by The Myers-Briggs Company found 85 percent of employees throughout businesses experience conflict. In total, they spend about 2.8 hours a week engaged in it, which shows their leaders lack conflict resolution skills. Profit losses associated with this problem are estimated at around $359 billion. In regards to the report, Jeff Hayes, the CEO of the business that wrote it said, “The question for management, therefore, is not whether it can be avoided or mitigated; the real concern is how conflict is dealt with. If managed improperly, businesses’ productivity, operational effectiveness, and morale take a major hit.” He adds that almost 30 percent of unresolved conflicts turn into personal attacks, while 25 percent of conflicts can escalate into employees avoiding showing up to work.

Hayes’s points are valid. With varying personalities, beliefs, interests, thought processes, and values, workplace conflict is an inevitable part of business. However, it doesn’t always have to be a costly one. In fact, leaders with conflict resolution skills can use points of contention as opportunities for growth and development.

Learn how to prevent conflict from taking a financial, emotional, and cultural toll on the business and those who work there. Additionally, learn the qualities all leaders need to handle conflict, plus several strategies for navigating heated moments or disagreements with ease.

Conflict is a process that unfolds when two or more people’s interests are not in alignment with each other. It can also occur due to an individual’s biases, cultural beliefs, social status, and other factors determining which values they prioritize above the ones others might not. However, conflict resolution is not the same as “agreeing to disagree.” It is a more severe event that unfolds in several stages: latent, perceived and felt, conflict approach, stalemate or negotiate, and aftermath. How a person navigates these stages determines whether or not the conflict escalates.

In workplaces, conflicts of interests, desires, opinions, and beliefs can boil over into serious arguments that harm team bonds if they are not dealt with appropriately. These problems mainly occur when people with conflicting points of view must reach an agreement. This is because individuals on teams have different goals and needs that don’t always align.

Conflict also occurs due to poor communication in the workplace. Crossed boundaries and unfulfilled expectations happen when teams don’t make open communication an organizational priority. This leads to hurt feelings, resentment, and festering problems, all of which damage interpersonal relationships. As a result, teams don’t work together in a functional, cohesive, or productive manner. It is much better to create a team culture where people communicate their needs, interests, feelings, thoughts, opinions, and emotions with emotional intelligence, honesty, and transparency.

Conflict resolution skills are the tools that help people handle different types of conflict. Usually, this involves one person leading a discussion that diffuses the situation instead of allowing it to blow up. As they do this, they maintain emotional control during moments of disagreement and lead people toward mediation, negotiation, or compromise. People who deploy these skills keep teams unified, ensuring that debate doesn’t turn into division.

Examples of conflict management skills include:

Asking thoughtful questions.
Responding to anger in a calm way.
Being flexible and coming up with solutions that work for everyone.
Remaining objective when listening to two parties involved in conflict.
Treating others with integrity and respect.
Being patient and not rushing into conclusions.
Showing forgiveness.
Maintaining a positive attitude.
Using humor when it’s appropriate.
Creating a culture of open communication.
Being clear, transparent, and honest.
Practicing active listening.
Working through stress management tactics.
Encouraging collaboration.
Finding a compromise.
Negotiating with the opposing side.
Teaching employees how to problem solve.
Establishing a team culture founded on accountability and trust.
Eliminating language that blames or shames others.
Contacting human resources for serious problems you cannot handle alone.

When no one on the team knows how to handle conflict, it’s a guarantee it’ll only get worse. Resolving conflict is one of the core duties in a leader’s career. Stepping up and doing so provides an example of how to navigate conflict as it occurs and ensure it doesn’t lead to a full-fledged fight. In addition to this, leaders are responsible for teaching their team members how to conduct themselves and lead others during the moments they’re not around.

Teaching employees conflict management skills creates leaders at every level and constructs a work environment where people treat one another with respect, kindness, and empathy. These types of work cultures strengthen interpersonal relationships by developing increased feelings of security and trust among workers. This can lead to higher job satisfaction, increased employee retention, greater productivity levels, and unbreakable team bonds (even when conflict occurs).

Deploying these skills isn’t as simple as following a few strategies that dissolve problems. In fact, it takes particular leadership skills and qualities for a person to diffuse heated or challenging situations. Listed below are a few personal characteristics leaders need to work on first to better succeed at conflict management.

1. Curiosity

As mentioned above, conflict often occurs when communication lines are broken. Instead of shutting down or allowing others to, leaders get curious about problems and find a way to connect. One way to do this is by asking clarifying or engaging questions that allow people more space to describe their opinion, emotions, beliefs, or thought processes. This helps individuals better understand and empathize with the place others are coming from.

2. Emotional Intelligence (EI)

As mentioned above, conflict often occurs when communication lines break. Instead of shutting down or allowing others to, career leaders get curious about problems and find a way to connect. One way to do this is by asking clarifying or engaging questions that enable people to describe their opinions, emotions, beliefs, or thought processes. This helps individuals better understand and empathize with the place others are coming from.

EI is one of the most important traits to have when resolving conflict. EI consists of four different quadrants: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Without knowledge in these particular areas, relationships break down, especially during times of conflict. People who lack EI don’t understand how their thoughts, words, and actions affect others. Because of this, they cannot gain emotional control during sensitive situations that require personal qualities that diffuse rather than instigate conflict. For this reason, EI is a crucial skill leaders can’t brush aside.

Learn more about how to gain more emotional intelligence in the workplace.

3. Flexibility

Studying various leadership styles and traits equip leaders to handle teams of people. No two employees are exactly alike, which means that leaders need a diverse skill set to lead a group effectively. Practicing Situational Leadership is one advantageous way to do this because it pushes leaders to meet an employees’ specific needs. For instance, leaders can avoid conflict by knowing, “This person needs more direction, so I’ll use the telling approach when explaining a project. Otherwise, they’ll feel frustrated when their work isn’t approved.”

Adaptability is not only necessary in preventing conflict—it’s also needed when handling it, too. For instance, leaders must think on their feet and quickly determine what each person engaged in conflict needs to reach a satisfactory resolution. This requires emotional intelligence, the skill listed above.

4. Objectiveness

Leaders who steer people toward conflict resolution must remain objective and not participate in fueling one side of the arguing parties. While they might agree with one party over another, they should never join in and heighten tensions between two or more people. Their job is to stop the conflict from getting worse. As referenced above, asking questions and digging deeper into a person’s point of view is one of the best ways to remain neutral during the decision-making process. If you make a choice others don’t agree with, outline the facts and communicate the “why” behind the decision in an informative, emotionally controlled manner.

5. Integrity and Respect

Aligning personal and organizational values with conflict management ensures leaders act with integrity as they handle uncomfortable situations. This might look like not engaging with a person who gets heated and asking them to meet the following day. Doing so gives everyone time to reflect on what was said, how they’re feeling, and where to go next. The point of demonstrating these qualities and using conflict management skills is to lead yourself and others in ways that build and maintain strong interpersonal relationships.

6. Patience

As the old saying goes, “Patience is a virtue.” This is because patience is a rare but valuable ability. When handling conflict, those with patience can set their frustration, anger, or feelings of suffering aside so that the common good prevails. When demonstrating and teaching patience, leaders should be willing to listen to all angles of a conflict, provide a calming presence, and help pull people closer together instead of letting their opposing viewpoints tear them apart.

7. Forgiveness

Forgiveness is an act of acceptance that stops conflict from festering and growing. Leaders should model forgiveness and show what it looks like to lead with humility and kindness. Forgiving a person is the same as saying, “I see you, I understand you, and while I might not agree with you or how you acted, I still care about you and want to keep working on building a strong relationship together.”

Forgiveness is important because it also stops negative thought patterns from turning into negative actions. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” When a person feels resentment over the way a person treated them in their career, conflict escalates. The act of forgiveness prevents this from occurring. It allows teammates to move forward instead of dwelling on what happened in the past.

8. Positivity

Leaders are positive thinkers because they know negativity doesn’t help conflict resolution. As Zig Ziglar once said, “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” During times of conflict, it can be easy to let your emotions get the best of you, assume people’s intentions, or make a vow in your mind to never mend a relationship with someone opposing you. However, leaders know these types of thoughts aren’t helpful. That’s why they dismiss them and refocus on what they can do to make the situation better.

While it isn’t always an appropriate strategy when dealing with conflict, sometimes humor can break the ice between people. As cited by The Mayo Clinic , laughing helps reduce tension, anxiety, and stress by “firing up and cooling down” a person’s stress response. This process slows down a person’s heart rate and blood pressure, calming the mind and body. It can also help teams openly communicate in a friendly yet direct manner.

After a leader gets a firm grasp of the traits above, they will be ready to start implementing different conflict management skills. The suggestions below are some of the top ways to prevent conflict from escalating and causing rifts among team members. Find out more about each strategy listed below.

10. Open Communication

Open communication is a great conflict management tool that prompts people to explain their thoughts, feelings, ideas, and solutions honestly and directly. Speaking this way requires workplace conditions where leaders foster a sense of trust and safety, though. This means executives must ingrain it into the team culture. For example, a CEO might ask team members to voice their opinions during a meeting. At the same time, everyone actively listens to each other, so the group hears and understands each person’s thoughts.

To communicate during conflict:

Ask the people involved in the conflict clarifying questions like, “Can you be more specific about what is frustrating you?” or “What concerns do you have that aren’t being addressed?”
Encourage them to listen and try to understand the other person’s point of view.
Get people to take a break from the situation if it’s too heated.
Follow this by asking them to meet back up the next day once they’ve had more time to reflect on what was said. As they’re thinking about how they want to reenter the conversation, tell them to bring back three written points they wish to discuss. This gives the following conversation more focus and eliminates emotional reactions like accusations and assumptions.

Get more tips on open communication .

11. Assertive Communication

Assertive communication is one of the communication skills that force people to be more direct and transparent about the outcomes they want. When used as a conflict management skill, assertive communication should also include proposing solutions and pushing the conversation forward to reach a satisfying end goal.

When assertively communicating to resolve conflict:

Set the terms for discussions that could cause conflict during team meetings. This might look like saying, “Everyone has five minutes to discuss their concerns, and then we will take a democratic vote to see which solutions will be implemented.”
Don’t let problems fester. When people express they’re upset, offended, or in disagreement, encourage them to pinpoint what’s bothering them.
Address nonverbal cues. For instance, when you notice someone’s body language shift or the temperature of the room change, ask people about their thoughts and feelings.
Have tough conversations, even if they’re uncomfortable.
When group members get heated, remind them of the terms established at the beginning of the meeting.
Redirect people toward making “I feel like” statements when discussing how they perceive others’ words, thoughts, and actions.

Find out more about assertive communication .

12. Active Listening

Active listening is listening with the intent to understand. When it comes to conflict resolution, heightened emotions often prevent effective discussions from happening. This is because when people feel threatened, they become defensive as a means to protect themselves. As a result, they stop listening and begin mentally formulating their next attack while the other person speaks. Acting in this manner doesn’t resolve problems—it just drives a wedge further in between people.

To minimize conflicts:

Request that each person pauses for a moment to think about what is being said. Then, ask them to repeat back what they feel was communicated to them.
Stop people from speaking over one another.
Present questions that help untangle conflicting viewpoints. This might look like saying, “Okay, so what do you think you can agree on?” or “What end goal do you both want to achieve?”
Get people first to find something positive about what was said, then allow them to say, “from my point of view,” “the way I see it,” or “my understanding is…” Demonstrating this practice as a leader is a great way to get your team to start doing this naturally.

13. Stress Management

When a person engages in conflicts, their body naturally produces stress hormones that cause a “fight-or-flight” response. This can significantly alter a person’s mood, make them avoidant, or create a large amount of stress and anxiety in the mind and body. Practicing stress management techniques helps limit the impact these bodily responses have on tense situations. As a result, there’s a greater likelihood for a positive outcome rather than allowing the conflict to continue growing.

To manage stress, Harvard Health Publishing suggests:

Exercising, which might include working out or taking a walk.
Practicing yoga, tai chi, or qi gong (which all help calm the mind by having a person focus on fluid movement).
Doing breathing exercises like box breathing . To do this, hold your breath for four seconds and then exhale for four seconds. Repeat four times.
Talking to your social support group, which might include your friends, family members, therapist, life coach , or mentor .

14. Collaboration

Collaboration is a conflict management skill that prevents conflict from occurring or further developing. Too often, disputes arise when group members aren’t in agreement over where to go next. As a leader, it’s your job to communicate the vision and how different objectives fulfill this endeavor. For a business to be impactful, leaders should step in and point the team in the right direction by initiating a discussion on whether or not the group’s decisions and ideas can fulfill this purpose.

The key to conflict resolution skills is shifting people’s mindset from “me” to “we.” Inviting people to collaborate and make choices together , instead of in silos, helps organizations fulfill their full potential. It also eliminates competitive attitudes that harm work cultures and cause additional conflict. Using characteristics from the democratic leadership style and practicing group decision-making techniques are two ways to do this.

15. Compromise

Another conflict management skill all leaders should have is the ability to compromise. As the former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany once stated, “A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.” While people engaged in conflict might feel like they didn’t receive the exact outcome they desired, a leader’s job is to make sure they are satisfied with the result. During bouts of conflict, a leader needs to redirect attention toward what the group does agree on, rather than what they don’t.

16. Negotiation

While negotiation is similar to compromise, they aren’t the same thing. Compromise is collaborating to reach an agreement while negotiating is an exchange of wants and desires. For example, this might look like two business owners discussing the terms of a deal. One might want a one-year contract, while the other demands a three-year one. They might settle for a one-year contract but at a higher price than the three-year plan offers. This way, both business owners get the terms they want.

To negotiate fairly:

Ask the parties involved in the decision-making process what their “non-negotiables” are.” These are the terms they must have to move forward.
Use assertive communication to clearly state what you want and how you think you can achieve this result.
Be flexible and willing to concede things that don’t impact the overall outcome you desire.
Treat the negotiation as a problem that needs to be solved. Invite those with opposing views to collaborate with you to find a solution everyone can agree upon.

17. Problem-Solving

Businesses form to solve customers’, clients’, and the world’s problems. This exudes the internal issues that arise when attempting to do the latter. Naturally, conflict occurs when it comes to decision-making because leaders and employees all have varying opinions and ideas about the best way to solve these problems. Nevertheless, teams must develop a mindset of collaborating as they make decisions that affect the company and its people. Tackling problems together reduces conflict by making employees feel like they have a say in how the business’s mission gets fulfilled.

18. Accountability

Accountability is accepting full responsibility for your words, thoughts, and actions. During conflict resolution, accountability can translate into owning lapses in judgment or emotional control. As referenced above, leading with integrity maintains and grows interpersonal relationships.

Giving a sincere apology for not attempting to understand someone’s point of view or acting out of character shows you have emotional intelligence as well. This is because EI requires self-awareness and social awareness. It is also a way to manage relationships. With that said, modeling accountability is an excellent method of creating a team culture where employees demonstrate humility and mutual respect.

To be accountable and hold people responsible:

Set firm behavioral expectations as soon as someone is hired by having them agree to sign off on these guidelines.
Own your mistakes, and don’t point the finger at others when you’ve said or done something wrong. Demonstrating accountability is the best way to teach it.
Normalize failure.
Take time to reflect on your words and actions when tensions rise. Ask others to do the same when you’re navigating conflict.
Remind people of the boundaries established for communicating with team members.

The situations below demonstrate conflict resolution. In the following examples, you’ll get an overview of each scenario, what conflict resolution skills to use, and how to use them.

An Employee Doesn’t Take Feedback Well

During a one-on-one meeting, a team member becomes irritated with their supervisor while they’re giving them feedback on how to improve the first iteration of their work. The employee crosses their arms, tightens their jaws, and goes silent. When the supervisor asks them what’s wrong, the employee gets defensive and says, “You tell me. You’re the one who seems to have an issue with my work.”

Conflict Resolution Techniques to Use

Open communication
Assertive communication
Accountability

First, use open communication to let the employee know this type of negative attitude isn’t tolerated. A part of assertive communication is setting firm boundaries to ensure expectations get fulfilled. Provide a gentle reminder that speaking to one another with respect is one of the top values they agreed to uphold when onboarded. Finally, discuss why feedback is necessary, and talk about how owning your work makes a difference in reaching personal, professional, and company-wide goals.

Two Team Members Get Into a Fight During a Meeting

A graphic designer presents an idea that will require a significant amount of time from the team’s lead copywriter during a brainstorming session. “I don’t have the capacity to take this on,” the copywriter asserts, immediately writing off the idea. “This project could really help us drive more of an impact within the company. And you’re always adding to my workload—this is completely unfair!” the graphic designer responds. The argument gets so bad, that there are threats to get human resources involved.

Stress management
Shifting away from blame and shame

During heated situations, ask the arguing parties to reconvene the next day. Before this meeting, request a quick chat with the two employees embroiled in conflict. Begin asking questions to get to the bottom of their feelings and emotions and gain a larger perspective on the issue. In addition to this, discuss the importance of not blaming and shaming others when emotionally triggered. It causes a serious breakdown in work relationships. Partner the two together for the rest of the workday and have them develop a compromise for what work needs to be done that fulfills the company’s vision and mission. Then ask them to meet back up with you the next day to let you know what they decided. However, if they cannot resolve the problem in a collaborative manner, getting human resources involved is not a bad idea.

Leaders Can’t Seem to Agree

When discussing the terms of a business proposal, the CEO of a company feels like the deal they’re being offered isn’t favorable to them. In addition to this, the person handling the negotiation is too pushy and won’t budge on the terms. “Look, this is the best we can do, and we wouldn’t present this to you if we didn’t feel like it wasn’t on fair terms,” they tell the CEO.

Conflict Resolution Tips to Use

Assertive communication
Collaboration
Problem-Solving
Negotiation

The best way to handle this situation is to clarify that the current terms will not work for you. However, let them know you’re interested in collaborating and negotiating. Outline the problems you have with the terms and ask them, in their opinion, how they would go about solving it. This will help the representative from the other business begin shifting toward the mindset of “they need to say yes right now” to “let’s find a solution that works for everyone.”

Conflict resolution serves a greater purpose. Often, it causes teams to have conversations that, while challenging, result in immense personal and professional growth. As Craig Runde and Tim Flanagan, the authors of Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader, write, “The better able team members are to engage, speak, listen, hear, interpret, and respond constructively, the more likely their teams are to leverage conflict, rather than be leveled by it.”

As you continue your journey, pass on these conflict management tips to your employees and human resources department. It grows leaders at every level. As a result, this helps the business operate more smoothly by increasing the bonds between team members who must work together and maintain strong relationships to fulfill the company’s mission.

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How to Develop Your Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Skills

Business people in meeting reviewing paperwork

No matter how well your team gets along, conflicts can occur frequently in the workplace. Although it can be awkward, conflict can actually be productive in some cases. For example, you might disagree with a colleague’s decision and work together to find a better solution, or you could receive constructive criticism from your manager that motivates you to become a better team member. These minor conflicts can lead to personal growth and strengthen your relationships.

However, workplace conflict can be destructive and stressful if not managed properly. According to the McKinsey Health Institute, one out of four employees have experienced high rates of toxic behavior at work. Toxic behavior includes competition between colleagues, abusive management and other interpersonal conflicts. 1

If you find yourself struggling with how to resolve disputes at work, this article explores effective strategies to strengthen conflict resolution and negotiation skills.

Understanding Different Types of Conflict

Understanding the different types of workplace conflict can help you find effective resolutions. Let’s explore the common types of conflict you’ll face.

Interpersonal Conflict

Interpersonal conflict is a disagreement between two or more parties. This type of conflict often occurs when coworkers have clashing goals, values or communication styles. 2 For example, you might perceive a colleague as rude and abrasive, but they believe they’re communicating directly.

Task Conflict

Task conflict occurs when group members have different opinions about completing projects or accomplishing goals. 2 A marketing professional could experience task conflict if they want to promote their brand on social media, but their manager prefers more traditional marketing methods.

Process Conflict

Process conflict arises when people have different decision-making and problem-solving processes. 2 Team members could have differing views about how to spend a budget or when to hold meetings.

Essential Communication Skills for Negotiation

The negotiation process doesn't come naturally to most people. Strengthening the communication skills below can help you negotiate conflict effectively.

Active Listening and Empathetic Communication

Disagreements often occur when people feel misunderstood or have different perspectives. You can use active listening to mitigate conflict and negotiate mutually agreeable solutions. Give colleagues your full attention when you speak with them, maintaining eye contact and asking questions to show you’re engaged. 3 Reiterate points that they have raised, use their name when possible and try to find common ground.

Empathetic communication can also help you understand the viewpoints of others. Acknowledge their negative emotions and invite them to collaborate to find a resolution. 3

Assertiveness

While it’s important to show empathy, that doesn’t mean you need to be a doormat. You can remain assertive by setting firm boundaries and standing up for your rights in a respectful manner. 4 State what your desired outcome is, acknowledge conflicting interests and don't falter when you don't hear what you would like to hear the first time around.

Assertiveness can boost your self-confidence and expedite the negotiation process. 4 For example, you could calmly tell your manager that you won’t answer emails on your vacation and ask them to help you develop a plan to manage the workload while you’re away.

Negotiation Skills and Strategies

Business professionals often need to negotiate with clients, colleagues and leaders to find solutions. You can develop your negotiation skills by practicing in low-stakes situations, like if you’re about to renew your Internet service contract and want to try requesting a lower price. In this scenario, there's no true "winner"; both people don't win or lose anything significant. These small opportunities can help you with negotiation techniques and to become a more confident negotiator. 5

Regular negotiation is a bit different than conflict negotiation, though. Negotiators often use one of two primary approaches for dispute resolution.

Win-Lose Negotiation

Win-lose negotiation is also known as distributive negotiation. All parties try to win the negotiation by receiving the maximum benefits or payoffs. Win-lose negotiation often involves haggling and competitive tactics. 6 If your end goal for the conflict management is that one party is the clear winner, then this can be a possible negotiation strategy, but beware of lingering disappointment or unfair distribution.

Win-Win Negotiation

Win-win negotiation is also called integrative negotiation. This approach involves all parties collaborating to get the optimal outcome for everyone. Integrative negotiation typically leads to more positive and longer-term agreements than win-lose scenarios. 6

Conflict Resolution Styles

There are five main conflict resolution styles: 7

Avoidance: Ignoring the conflict and leaving it unresolved
Accommodative: One party concedes their position to the other
Competitive: One party wins the conflict, and the other loses
Compromise: Both parties sacrifice part of their solution to reach an agreement
Collaborative: All parties work together to create a mutually agreeable solution

A collaborative approach typically leads to the best negotiated agreement and the best outcome for all parties. However, you may choose other styles in certain scenarios. For example, temporary avoidance could help you de-escalate a volatile argument until all parties are in a better mindset for more collaborative solutions. 7

Emotional Intelligence in Conflict Resolution

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and manage your feelings and the feelings of others. This skill helps you control negative emotions during conflict and treat the other party empathetically. It also enables you to resolve conflicts tactfully. 8

Mediation and Third-Party Intervention

A mediator is a neutral third party who helps people discuss their conflicts. Mediation facilitates positive communication and enables participants to work together to create solutions. It can be useful when parties can’t agree on a resolution by themselves. 9

Negotiating Across Cultures

Cultural intelligence can reduce conflict between people from different backgrounds and nationalities . This involves learning about other cultures and adapting your behavior to the context. Cross-cultural negotiation also requires flexibility and the willingness to find creative compromises. 10

Dealing With Difficult Personalities

You’ll inevitably encounter people with challenging personalities throughout your career. Your difficult coworkers may act passive-aggressively, be overly pessimistic or dominate conversations. 11

Respond to these colleagues with calmness and professionalism. For example, you can politely call out interruptions if your coworker speaks over you and reframe a pessimist’s negative remarks more constructively. 11

Strategies for Effective Decision-Making and Problem-Solving

Decision-making and problem-solving skills enable you to get to the root of conflicts, resolve differences and create positive outcomes. Follow these steps to solve problems effectively: 12

Define the issue
Brainstorm as many solutions as possible
Consider the benefits and costs of each option
Decide on an achievable solution or combine options for the best resolution
Assess progress and change tactics if the first solution fails

Advance Your Career With a Strong Foundation in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution and negotiation skills are essential in the modern business environment. Develop all the skills you need to thrive as a business leader in Yeshiva University's Sy Syms School of Business online MBA program . You’ll develop an entrepreneurial mindset as you take courses on leadership and emotional intelligence, negotiations and other vital topics. The program also includes an optional five-day residency in Tel Aviv, Israel, or New York City. This experience allows you to expand your professional network and strengthen your innovation skills.

Make your career a priority and schedule a call with an admissions outreach advisor today.

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Retrieved on January 3, 2024, from files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1271240.pdf
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10 Leadership Conflict Management & Resolution Skills 2024

Being a leader in any organization is no easy task. Not only are leaders responsible for their actions, and the ramifications thereof, they are also responsible for the behavior and actions of their team members.

Running a team like a well-oiled machine is no easy task, as more often than not it doesn't run as well as a leader may like. There will be times that there will be conflict in the workplace, which could, if left unchecked, threaten to derail the productivity and profitability of the organization, and the morale of the team. This is where leadership conflict management and resolution skills for team leaders come to the fore.

They are qualities that set a good and a great leader apart. Success requires teamwork and clear communication. When leading a team, one of your primary responsibilities is making sure your team works well together and when it doesn't, you're able to resolve the conflict.

Often, individuals with varying personalities comprise these teams. The ability to recognize potential conflicts between individual team members and develop conflict resolution strategies to resolve them quickly is essential for projects to proceed successfully.

Leaders recognize that understanding conflict management can help them resolve issues before they occur or resolve existing conflicts in such a way that your team can still work together as a cohesive unit.

10 Leadership Conflict Management & Resolution Skills

1. communicate early and often .

To reduce misunderstandings and ambiguity, communicate your intentions and desires to not just one party, but rather every employee and as such all parties involved in the work environment. Ask what your colleagues need to work their best, and do your part to meet their needs or – at a minimum – avoid doing that which you know will cause harm. If you suspect conflict amongst team members, a leader must nip it in the bud quickly as problems will not just disappear, but rather linger if not. Failing to act as a leader when you spot a potential problem can create problems down the line.

2. Listen actively

Active listening is a proven leadership skill for conflict resolution, and involves developing a skill for listening to what is verbally and nonverbally communicated. Often, conflicts arise because two parties misunderstand or mishear what the other person is saying. Leaders know how to manage conflict and understand that active listening helps ensure that the sender and receiver understand one another and can more easily move towards a resolution. This is half the battle when it comes to being a mediator in resolving conflicts.

3. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, manage, and control emotions not just in oneself, but also in others. Understanding, expressing, and effectively handling emotions are vital for conflict resolution. EI skills help improve communication and relationships and therefore is included in the vital skills for conflict resolution.

4. Problem solving

Problem-solving skills help leaders or parties in conflict recognize and address the root causes of conflicts by identifying the issues and exploring possible solutions. Leaders can apply the 5 problem-solving steps or 5 conflict management styles for conflict resolution: identify the problem, list possible solutions, evaluate the solutions, choose one solution, and implement it. People can find creative and equitable solutions to their conflicts by applying problem-solving skills.

5. Negotiation

Negotiation is trying to reach an agreement between two or more parties. It can be used to resolve disputes and every conflict and is integral to conflict resolution. Negotiation skills can be learned and practiced, and one can apply them in various situations. Therefore, it is vital to have effective negotiation skills to help achieve successful outcomes in any case. Negotiation is one of the powerful skills for conflict resolution, and it can help bring parties together to work toward a common goal.

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6. Observation

Observation is the key to effective conflict management. When a leader observes a conflict, one can understand it better and find solutions that work for both parties. You must also be able to keep track of your emotions and reactions to remain impartial. The skills required to be a practical observer will vary depending on the type of conflict you are dealing with.

7. Self-awareness

Self-awareness helps you understand your thoughts, feelings, and behavior, enabling you to identify the underlying causes of conflicts. Once you thoroughly understand the source of conflict, you can begin resolving it using other conflict management skills and techniques. This vital skill also helps you in identifying any biases you might have as a manager.

8. Team awareness

A conflict resolution team is especially important for effective conflict resolution, and must have the skills to work together effectively. One of the skills that are essential for conflict resolution is team awareness. This skill helps managers understand their team dynamics and how they interact with each other. In addition, it can help resolve conflict before it escalates into a severe issue. Conflict occurs through any disagreement and can cause rifts, so team awareness helps a manager to make their teams work through their differences and reach a consensus on a solution.

9. Patience

Conflict can mean different things to different people, but what is universal is that resolving conflict is a challenging but essential part of any relationship. It can be frustrating when an argument escalates quickly to the point of no return. But patience is critical to resolving conflict successfully. Effective leadership means that the best leaders need to take their time and not rush into a decision. When one is trying to resolve a conflict, it helps to circle back and understand the other person’s point of view to effectively manage things and develop a solution that works for both parties. By listening carefully and taking time to think about the situation, you can diffuse tense situations and build trust between you and the other person. All in all, patience can be one of the key skills for conflict resolution.

10. Impartiality

It is often difficult to stay impartial when you manage conflict, but in any conflict, a good manager should never take sides. Being impartial means that you can listen to both sides of the story and act accordingly. A problem at hand can't be resolved unless the historical issues are addressed. In this type of situation, it's best to separate the conflict from the people that are involved with it. Effective leaders understand that they shouldn't focus on people and their personal characteristics, instead, they should look at the problem and center their energy on finding a solution.

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Conclusion

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Being a true leader is no easy task, and nor too is managing interpersonal or interdepartmental conflict within an organization. When it comes to conflict, being cool, calm, collected, impartial and able to see the wood for the trees, are skills every leader/manager worth their salt must posses or face the consequences of lost productivity and other knock-on effects that may also affect the profitability of the company. Many leaders know that their role in solving workplace conflict is to help employees involved in the conflict to clarify their needs and guide them to a fair solution that both sides will accept. All conflict situations can lead to division, so as part of the conflict resolution, be sure to address all types of different conflict right away; however, don't rush when it comes to working out a resolution.

Whilst many say that leaders are born and not made, what is apparent is that modern leaders can be coached at a university like Nexford , that offers BBA and MBA programs, on how to spot conflict early and develop ways of managing conflict in the workplace before things spiral out of control. Nexford's Leadership Management and Teams course focuses on how to create a personal and shared vision and communicate effectively with teams, as a leader, a manager and a team member. On the course learners will develop a personal philosophy of leadership, management and membership in the global workplace through a personal inventory and assessment, as well as apply conflict management skills to a personal and organizational setting. Complimenting that, Nexford's Leadership and Organizational Development course examines individual and group interaction and helps learners gain a deeper understanding of how human behavior drives organizational behavior and development. On the course learners will apply various leadership styles, conflict management strategies, and change models to organizational situations to resolve conflict at hand.

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What is conflict management?

Conflict management is an umbrella term for the way we identify and handle conflicts fairly and efficiently and is necessary for managing diverse teams. The goal is to minimize the potential negative impacts that are involved in a conflict and can arise from disagreements and increase the odds of a positive outcome.

What is a conflict management strategy?

Strategies for managing conflict are the ways a manager can engage with their employees productively when it seems like there is a risk of conflicts and arguments emerging. People naturally deal with conflicts in different ways, but some can be better than others when it comes to keeping everyone involved in the situation happy and productive. By combining your own natural conflict management style with any of the styles below, you can develop a range of responses to arguments and clashes in the workplace.

What types of conflict can occur in the workplace?

As no two days are ever the same, so too are the types of conflict that may occur in the office environment. Knowing how to spot them, and stop them early can help to resolve a conflict in double quick time. Experts maintain that there are 5 conflict types that occur in the workplace and they are leadership conflicts, work style conflicts, creative conflicts, personality conflicts, and task-based conflicts.

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Why is it crucial for a leader/employer to have conflict management skills?

Understanding conflict allows leaders to manage it more effectively and can provide a path to accomplishing positive outcomes. Conflict can lead to division, so every leader needs to understand that conflict management training can be an active force that will allow leaders grow healthy relationships within their organizations which can ultimately result in effective team work and productivity and make it easier to manage workplace disputes.

What does it take for a leader to resolve disputes in the workplace?

Depending on the situation, there are many skills and strategies leaders must look at for managing conflict and resolve disputes in the workplace. Leading from the front is just one and taking control of a situation before a molehill turns into a mountain. But if you had to put your finger on it, what exactly does it take for a leader to increase their resolution efforts and resolve disputes in the workplace? Experts would maintain that as a leader, even though you can initiate a constructive conversation, the effort always involves dialogue and discussion among the people involved. Conflict is inevitable, but by adopting a positive attitude toward the conflict, leaders find the best in people and in the situation, and maintain their sense of humor. Sounds easy enough, but more often than that it isn't necessarily so.

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Mark is a college graduate with Honours in Copywriting. He is the Content Marketing Manager at Nexford, creating engaging, thought-provoking, and action-oriented content.

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Full Guide to Conflict Resolution (Skills, Examples & Process)

Conflict is an unavoidable (and sometimes healthy) part of life. Reasonable amounts of conflict can help us learn and consider things from others’ points of view.

In the workplace, however, conflict can disrupt your routine, cause stress, and create an overall toxic work environment.

As such, conflict resolution skills are an invaluable asset no matter what your profession is.

After all, every employer wants someone who knows their way around conflict and can facilitate a friendly and collaborative work environment.

This begs the question - what kind of conflict resolution skills do recruiters want to see and how can you make them stand out on your resume?

This is exactly what this article is here for! We’ve put together everything you need to know about conflict resolution, including:

Why Do Conflict Resolution Skills Matter?

10 conflict resolution skills and examples, 8 steps for resolving conflict successfully, how to add your conflict resolution skills to your resume.

Let’s dive in!

What Is Conflict Resolution?

Conflict resolution is the process, methods, and set of skills necessary to effectively resolve conflicts between two or more individuals.

The ability to resolve conflict is beneficial in all areas of life, but especially so at work. That's because, whether you work in an office, remotely, or on the field, you’re bound to face work-related conflict to some extent.

About 85% of employees experience some kind of conflict in the workplace. And, according to a CIPD report, conflict typically happens for one of the following reasons:

Differences in personality or working styles
Individual competence or performance
Level of support or resources

Knowing how to overcome any such conflicts can be a huge asset both during your job hunt and in your career. Just to give you an idea, conflict management was the most in-demand soft skill among businesses hiring in 2019.

But what is it exactly that makes conflict resolution skills so sought after?

No matter the scale of the conflict or your level of involvement, possessing the skills to resolve it can come with a heap of benefits.

Here are some of the most noteworthy ones:

Improved productivity. A well-functioning, friendly work environment allows employees to cooperate with each other and work more productively. Conflict in the workplace, on the other hand, leads to stress, anxiety, and a drop in motivation and productivity, according to the CIPD.
Better work environment. Conflict resolution skills can significantly reduce miscommunications and disagreements among coworkers, and thus make the workplace a much nicer and more pleasant environment to work in.
Professional growth. Conflict resolution skills are among the most popular transferable skills out there, which means they come in handy for many jobs across several industries. As such, having strong conflict resolution skills can help give your career a significant boost.
Good customer relationships. In customer-facing roles , conflict can often occur between employees and customers. In such cases, conflict resolution skills can really save the day.
Saved company time and money. US employees spend around 2.8 hours each week involved in a conflict. This amounts to around $359 billion in hours paid, according to CPP, Inc. In a workplace with minimal conflict, though, employees can use that time to work, in turn saving the company time and money.

Now that we covered the basics, let us break down the most impactful conflict resolution skills that could give your resume and career a serious boost, starting with:

#1. Communication

Communication is among the most important conflict resolution skills out there.

It involves being able to listen attentively to what other people have to say, as well as expressing your own thoughts and opinions clearly. Many times, a good communicator is also someone who will catch on to non-verbal cues or who is able to persuade people to try and resolve a conflict.

In a nutshell, communication skills can make or break the conflict resolution process.

For example, think about how important communication skills are to an HR manager trying to resolve a conflict between two coworkers. They need to be able to persuade both sides to sit down and talk, listen attentively to understand the conflict, express their thoughts in an open and non-judgemental manner, and facilitate a discussion between the two parties.

Communication is a multi-faceted skill that consists of the following:

Oral and written communication
Non-verbal communication
Active Listening
Presentation
Public speaking
Negotiation

#2. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is being aware of, controlling, and expressing one’s emotions, as well as handling interpersonal relations justly and empathetically.

When it comes to resolving conflict, emotional intelligence goes a long way in putting yourself in the other person’s shoes or understanding each side’s perspective.

Let’s say, for example, that you got into a conflict with a coworker because they didn’t manage to meet a deadline, thus bottlenecking the entire team’s workflow.

If you’re a highly emotionally intelligent person, you will be able to put yourself in your coworker’s shoes—maybe they had a very good reason for not meeting the deadline. The task could’ve been harder than initially estimated, there might have been some unexpected issues, or maybe the coworker had some personal problems that got in the way.

Viewing the problem from the other person’s shoes will allow you to focus on finding a solution to the problem at hand instead of just blaming them. By adopting such a neutral approach, you’re a lot more likely to avoid conflict at work, establish good relations with your coworkers, and get things done better and faster.

Some skills associated with emotional intelligence include:

Interpersonal skills

#3. Leadership

People in leadership positions are often required to resolve conflict. After all, leadership involves being able to manage and inspire others, which in itself means ensuring that your team members are getting along and collaborating effectively.

That said, leadership skills are not only for dedicated leadership roles.

For example, you may be working in a team and still be able to manage and inspire your teammates in such a way they see you as a “team leader.” In such cases, you will also be able to resolve conflict more effectively than others, as leaders are typically emotionally intelligent, great communicators, and natural-born influencers.

Here are some other soft skills related to leadership:

Relationship-building
Strategic thinking

#4. Teamwork

Teamwork involves working well with other individuals, addressing problems collectively, and putting the group’s needs ahead of personal goals.

As such, you can probably imagine why teamwork skills are important when it comes to conflict resolution. If you don’t think as a team member, you won’t be able to collaborate with others and put your differences aside to reach a common goal.

Similarly, if you’re personally involved in the conflict, having teamwork skills is what can differentiate whether you’ll be able to sit down and resolve the conflict or act selfishly and escalate it.

Teamwork comes in especially handy in arbitrary conflicts, where it doesn’t matter who “wins” but how fast and effectively the issue can be resolved.

Some teamwork-related soft skills are:

Collaboration

#5. Patience

Patience is the ability to tolerate waiting, delay, frustration, or any other negative emotion or circumstance, without getting agitated or upset. It goes without saying that if you want to resolve a conflict successfully, you’ve got to be patient.

This applies both to whether you’re a third party trying to resolve a conflict or if you’re part of the conflict itself.

In the first case, you’ve got to have patience during the entire mediation process, considering that things may get heated or that the parties in conflict may need to take some time to reach an understanding and overcome the conflict.

In the second case, you’ve got to be patient enough to hear the other party, sit through the conflict resolution process, accept opinions and advice you may not necessarily agree with, and even go through a reconciliation process, depending on the severity of the conflict.

#6. Compromise

A compromise is an agreement or a settlement of a dispute in a way that both sides make concessions. It's almost impossible to settle a conflict without making at least some sort of concession, which makes the ability to compromise vital if you want to find a solution.

Compromise involves both coming up with such settlements and being able to accept them if you’ve been involved in the conflict yourself.

Take, for example, two classmates who need to work together on a project but can’t agree on the topic, because each of them wants something different. The teacher may decide to assign the topic themself so they won’t have to disagree over it - in this case, each student will compromise their own choice to avoid conflict.

Alternatively, the teacher may suggest they simply team up with other people and keep the topics they liked in the first place. This is also a compromise that can de-escalate the conflict between the two students.

#7. Assertiveness

Assertiveness is the middle ground between aggressiveness and apathy. Meaning, someone who is assertive is someone who stands up for what’s right in a positive way, instead of getting angry or being passive in the face of injustice.

In a conflict, assertiveness means that you can communicate with others without upsetting them or yourself. This is exactly what makes it one of the most important conflict resolution skills.

To give you an example of assertiveness as a conflict resolution skill, think of a supervisor who decides to facilitate a meeting between two employees who have argued and are not on speaking terms.

Some other examples of assertive behavior include:

Being able to admit mistakes and apologize
Not feeling entitled or superior to others
Expressing appreciation toward others

#8. Problem-Solving

Problem-solving is the ability to identify problems, find what’s causing them, and come up with a good solution.

Problem-solving and conflict resolution go hand in hand. A problem solver is someone who, instead of wasting time being angry or irritated when faced with conflict, will focus on understanding the problem and solving it in a way that benefits everyone involved.

For example, if you’re a team leader whose team is facing a productivity issue, you may need to redefine the roles of two team members who don’t like each other to avoid conflict between the two.

Some skills associated with problem-solving skills include:

Analytical skills
Research skills
Critical thinking
Decision-making

#9. Creativity

Oftentimes, you have to think outside the box to resolve a conflict.

This is exactly where creativity comes in. In a nutshell, creativity is the ability to view situations and approach tasks and challenges inventively.

Creative skills may be what makes the difference between an OK and a great solution to a conflict.

A restaurant server who’s facing a conflict with a customer, for example, may find more creative ways to solve the disagreement than simply calling the manager, such as offering them a complimentary drink or getting the entire table dessert at the end of their meal.

As with most soft skills, creativity is made up of different skills, such as:

Imagination
Open-mindedness
Experimentation

#10. Management

Management is being able to manage people (including yourself), situations, resources, and even processes. And, of course, to be able to master conflict resolution, you need to be able to do all of these things.

Although management skills are typically associated with management positions, that’s not actually the case. Any professional can benefit from strong management skills, especially when it comes to successfully resolving workplace conflict.

For example, if the HR manager at your company is mediating a conflict between you and a coworker, the stronger your management skills, the better you’ll be able to handle yourself and the process. Similarly, if you’re the one mediating a conflict, you’ll need strong management skills to manage those involved, their reactions, and the resources at your disposal to solve it.

Some management skills include:

People management
Project management
Time management
Risk management

5 Healthy and Unhealthy Ways of Responding to Conflict

Several things can factor into the way we respond to conflict, including our upbringing, our core values, and our previous experiences.

Take, for example, two adults. The first grew up in an inclusive, open environment, while the second grew up in an eruptive and violent environment. As you can imagine, the person in the first example is much more likely to respond to conflict in a healthy way than the person in the second.

The same applies to people with, say, different values; a person who believes in cooperation and understanding will most probably seek to resolve conflict, whereas someone who’s more on the selfish side might cling to it longer.

But what exactly consists of healthy and unhealthy ways of responding to conflict? Let us give you some examples:

Lack of empathy or inability to recognize the other person’s feelings and respond to the thighs that matter to them.
Anger , resentment, or explosive reactions.
Apathy or withdrawing love, which leads to rejection, isolation, and shaming.
Inability to compromise and see the other person’s perspective.
Fear or avoidance due to associating conflict with a bad experience or expecting a bad outcome.
Empathy and understanding of the other person’s viewpoint.
Calm , inclusive, and non-defensive reactions and words.
A “forgive-and-forget” attitude and the readiness to move past a conflict without holding any grudges.
Seeking compromise and not acting out of spite or with intent to punish.
Desire to face conflict as soon as possible so that both sides can move on.

The more you practice conflict resolution, the better you can get at it. That said, there are some do’s and don’ts you can learn about conflict resolution that’ll help you get better at this skill.

Below, we’ll cover the 8 steps you can take in order to resolve any conflict:

#1. Keep your calm

Before you engage in a conflict resolution process, you’ve got to make sure you’re calm and clear-headed.

After all, the people involved in the conflict likely already feel angry, impatient, or judgemental toward each other, while your job as a mediator is to eliminate negativity as much as possible.

This, however, may be hard to do if you yourself are not calm. The conflict resolution process may be even harder if you’ve been involved in the conflict yourself and want to solve it, but you’re not able to keep your calm.

As such, you can try taking several deep breaths before beginning the conflict resolution process, relaxing your body and dropping your shoulders, or doing whatever works best for calming you down.

#2. Set a time and place for discussion

Conflict resolution can be a strenuous and time-consuming process for those involved, and can also get very distracting for those who aren’t involved but may happen to witness it.

So, it’s important to find an appropriate time and place for the conflict resolution process to take place. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Conflict resolution takes time. For this reason, you should make sure that everyone involved has enough time and won’t have to leave for another appointment halfway through the process.
The environment matters. For starters, the place should be private from the eyes of outsiders. Additionally, you should make sure that all participants feel comfortable in the agreed-upon location by choosing a neutral place. That way, you don’t run the risk of one side feeling superior or vulnerable.
Conflict resolution can get tiring. Consider having water or snacks available to ease up the process.

#3. Define the conflict or issue

The first step to finding a solution to a problem is accepting there is a problem in the first place.

Only once all the parties have accepted this, can the conflict resolution process begin.

The first step here is to clearly define the issue at hand and not let it escalate into unrelated conflicts. After all, it’s not uncommon for conflict to escalate to a point where no one knows what they’re even fighting about anymore.

Some things you can do to define the conflict successfully are:

Begin the process by sharing your own take on what’s causing the conflict
Ask all the people involved to share their own experience
Try to keep the discussion to one main point at a time
Take every perspective into consideration
Consider how each person is contributing to the problem
List any past, unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue (if it’s a persisting issue)

If you’re personally involved in the conflict, try to use “I” statements as much as possible (e.g. “I feel like my efforts always go unnoticed” versus “you always ignore my hard work.” That way, you’re more likely to create a space where everyone can voice their opinions.

#4. Note down possible conflict triggers

Sometimes, it’s external factors that trigger people into conflict.

Such factors typically include:

Personal issues

Openly discussing what may have triggered other parties into conflict can increase the empathy of all those involved, as well as make it easier to anticipate and avoid similar conflicts in the future.

#5. Brainstorm and list possible solutions

Pick everyone’s brain on how you can go about solving the conflict.

One of the most common issues of conflict resolution is pushing one solution and not keeping an open mind to alternative options. Brainstorming different ideas and possibilities, on the other hand, can help all parties reach a compromise or an agreement that’s beneficial to everyone involved.

Once you’ve brainstormed and discussed different solutions to the conflict, note down the best ones or the most achievable ones.

#6. Agree on a single plan

In many cases, the “solution” to a conflict may be to simply acknowledge both sides were wrong, agree to disagree, apologize, or move on.

In other cases, though, you may actually need to come up with and agree on an action plan to make sure the conflict never repeats again. For example, if two team members feel like the project leader doesn’t take their ideas into consideration, the plan may be to have weekly meetings where every member is given five minutes to express their insights and thoughts.

In such cases, before ending the conflict resolution process, make sure to clearly define the necessary actions and steps for every person involved.

#7. Check-in to discuss progress

Following through is an essential part of conflict resolution.

After all, even if the conflict resolution meeting goes well, there is still a chance that people won't follow through with the plan or repeat the same patterns after a while.

As such, make sure to agree on a time in the future (not too soon after the initial meeting) to check in with everyone, see how they’re feeling, and ensure there is actual progress.

#8. Involve a third party

Now, despite all the best intentions, there is still a chance that the conflict resolution process won’t work (or that it may require many more meetings and mediation, depending on the scale and severity of the issue).

If that happens, the best course of action is to involve a third party to help out. In most cases, the team lead or HR manager is the right person for this.

Anyone can claim they have conflict resolution skills. It’s being able to prove them in your resume that will help you stand out from the competition.

Below, we’ll cover the entire process of adding your conflict resolution skills to your resume effectively, step-by-step.

Before you read further, though, pick one of our resume templates and fill it in as you go!

#1. List Them Under Your Skills Section

The most obvious place to list your conflict resolution skills is under your skills section.

Although this part is fairly straightforward, there are some things you want to keep in mind.

For starters, you shouldn’t just mention every conflict resolution skill we covered in this article and call it a day. Instead, you want to make sure that you add conflict resolution skills that are relevant to the position you’re applying for.

Here is just how you can do that:

Check the job description. In 99% of cases, the job description can show you exactly which skills are needed for the position. If you’re applying for a teaching position, for example, the job description may not directly mention “conflict resolution” as a skill, but a bunch of other skills related to it, such as excellent communication and interpersonal skills, creativity, and leadership.
Identify the skills you possess. Now think about the skills that you can back up with your previous work experience. Only list conflict resolution skills that you possess and that you can prove you possess on your resume.
Add them under your soft skills. Then, add those skills under your resume’s soft skills section.

Here’s an example of how conflict resolution skills look on a resume’s skills section:

conflict resolution skills on resume skills section

#2. Mention Them In Your Resume Summary

Secondly, you should mention your conflict resolution skills in your resume summary .

resume summary conflict resolution skills

In a nutshell, the resume summary is a short paragraph that usually mentions:

Your professional title and years of experience
Your top skills (up to three)
Your most noteworthy achievements

Done right, your resume summary should convey you’re a great candidate from the get-go and get the hiring manager to go through the rest of your resume in more detail.

Here’s an example of a resume summary that highlights the applicant’s conflict resolution skills:

A dedicated customer support representative with over five years of experience helping customers and solving their problems. Excellent communication and conflict resolution skills, with over 95% customer approval rating to prove it. Looking to leverage my skills to help Company X provide quality customer service.

#3. Back Them Up With Your Work Experience

Last but not least, you should use your work experience section to back up all the conflict resolution skills you’ve mentioned with facts.

This is exactly what makes this section the most important part of your resume.

Done right, it will prove to the hiring manager that you’re exactly who they’re looking for.

Here’s just how you can do that:

Focus on your achievements instead of your responsibilities. Instead of mentioning things the hiring manager already knows (i.e. your responsibilities), aim to show how you made an impact with your achievements instead. So, when you’ve pinned down the conflict resolution skills to include in your resume, write down some achievements from your previous roles to prove them.
Make your achievements quantifiable. To really impress recruiters, you want to make your achievements as quantifiable as possible. After all, nothing says “real” more than a data-backed claim. For example, “hit and exceeded department’s KPIs by 20% for four months in a row” sounds better than “increased sales.”
Take advantage of action verbs and power words. This article lists the best action verbs and power words you can use to give your resume some color and make your achievements sound even more impressive.

And here are some great examples of how you can describe your conflict resolution skills in your resume’s work experience section:

Won an American Business Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion for creating a checks and balances system that decreased employee complaints and conflicts by 15% in only three months.
Managed cross-department teams of 20 people without any hiccups, never missing a deadline, and in the end, exceeding the company’s KPIs by 14%.

Interview Questions on Conflict Resolution Skills - Sample Answers

Once you’ve worked on your resume, the next step in your job search process is to ace the job interview.

If the job you’re applying for involves customer support or management, there’s a very good chance that the interviewer will ask you detailed questions about your conflict resolution skills.

In this section, we’ll teach you just how you can answer them!

The first thing you need to know is that the interviewer will most probably inquire about your conflict resolution skills through a behavioral interview question .

Behavioral interview questions are types of questions where the interviewer asks you about how you acted in a specific situation.

So instead of a question like:

“What’s your greatest strength?”

They’re going to ask:

“What’s your greatest strength, and give us an example of a time you applied it in the workplace.”

Some other examples of common behavioral questions are:

Tell us about a time when you solved a problem at your job that wasn’t part of your job description.
Have you ever had to work under someone who wasn’t very good at communicating? What happened?

Now, behavioral interview questions can seem trickier to answer than conventional interview questions.

After all, anyone can answer a question like “ what’s your greatest accomplishment? ”

Coming up with a concrete example that demonstrates how you went above and beyond to complete a work task on the spot, though, can be considerably more challenging.

Well, it doesn’t have to be!

Lucky for you, there’s an easy way to answer behavioral interview questions called the STAR method . Here’s what STAR stands for:

S - Situation. Describe in what situation the event took place.

T - Task. Talk about the task at hand or your responsibilities.

A - Action. Describe the steps you took to address the issue/complete the task.

R - Results. Mention the results of your actions.

Master the STAR method , and you’ll be able to answer any conflict resolution-related job interview question that the HR manager throws at you!

Let’s say, for example, that the interviewer asks the following question:

“Have you ever faced conflict or disagreement with a coworker? What happened and how did you resolve it?”

Here’s how you’d answer it using the STAR method:

Situation. “During my internship at Company X, my team and I were supposed to work together and brainstorm new talent-sourcing ideas for a client. The client was a large supermarket chain located in a very rural area, so they were struggling to source new talent.”

Task. “Basically, our task was to meet on a daily basis, brainstorm, and finally settle on three ideas. After a couple of meetings, we did have a few ideas, but none of them were really satisfactory. Meanwhile, the management wanted something they could confidently present to the client.

At this point, some of my teammates basically said “well, here are our ideas, we don’t have anything else!”. Another teammate and I, however, wanted to work on it a bit more and come up with something that WOULD work.

There was a lot of back and forth from there, the tensions were high, and the team kept shutting down all the ideas we were proposing. The deadline was super close and we had to figure out a way to move forward.”

Action. “So, I gave it some thought and realized that we’d be in a deadlock forever if we continued like this. They wouldn’t agree with our approach and we wouldn’t agree with theirs. So, we decided to bring in an unbiased third party who didn't have any emotional investment here.

We then conducted a longer meeting without any time restraints and went through each idea one by one, while the third party acted as a sort of mediator. When someone pitched something, they also had to back it up with as many facts as possible, otherwise, it wouldn’t count.”

Results. “This really helped bring something new to the table. The “mediator” helped sort through all the bad ideas, as well as infused the team with new energy, and kept tensions on the low.

We eventually came up with completely original ideas that we all agreed upon. We finished the meeting in approximately two hours and the management had three awesome ideas they could pitch to the client. The client did implement one of the ideas, which eventually resulted in three new hires.”

Simple, right?

And just to make sure you’ve really got how the STAR method works, let’s cover another example.

Let’s say that the interviewer asks something like this:

“How do you handle angry or irritated customers? Give me an example.”

Here’s how you’d answer with the STAR method:

Situation. “Working in customer support, you really get to talk with many different kinds of people. I remember I had one angry customer that called the helpdesk once to complain. He kept repeating that the product he bought was faulty and demanded I resolve the situation then and there.”

Task. “Customers calling for refunds happen all the time, but this one was different as he just kept shouting over the phone the whole time. I had to get him to calm down if I wanted the call to go anywhere.”

Action. “Fortunately, I had experience dealing with loud customers and knew the first thing I had to do was listen to his story. Halfway through telling his story, he calmed down once he realized I was trying to help. He explained that the product was supposed to be a gift, and that’s why he was so frustrated. Then, I offered 2 solutions: a refund or a replacement for his product with express delivery.”

Results. “The customer opted for the replacement option. I called him back once they received the order just to check in if he was happy with the product. He turned out to be happy both with the product and our service, and thanked me for the help.”

Key Takeaways

And that’s a wrap on conflict resolution skills!

Before you go and put everything we just told you to practice, let’s go over the main points covered in this article:

At work, conflict resolution skills are essential because they improve employees’ productivity, ensure the work environment is enjoyable for everyone, and save the company money and time.
Some important conflict-resolution skills include communication, creativity, assertiveness, compromise, and leadership.
Some healthy ways to respond to a conflict are showing empathy, keeping your calm, wanting to resolve the conflict, and following a “forgive and forget” attitude.
To successfully resolve conflict, make sure to properly define the issue at hand, outline possible conflict triggers, brainstorm possible solutions, agree on a single plan, and follow up to see if everyone involved is following through.
To make conflict resolution skills pop, add them in the skills section, sprinkle them in your resume summary, and back them up with your work experience section.

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Use Active Listening to Help a Colleague Make a Hard Decision

Cheryl Strauss Einhorn

Don’t jump straight to problem-solving.

Imagine a colleague is faced with a high-stakes decision. They’re likely stressed, conflicted, and overwhelmed. In these situations, many of us default to the role of problem-solver. We try to support our colleague by providing our opinion or offering a solution. But to effectively support decision makers in your organization, you need to step back from your own ego and just listen . This article outlines practical strategies for exercising four types of active listening: emotional, informational, analytical, and reflective. Active listening can be hard to do, but it’s a great skill to practice. It allows you to strengthen key relationships while giving decision makers the space to make decisions for themselves.

Arnaldo was the chief operating officer at a successful investment firm. Recently, the firm’s results had been underperforming expectations. This poor performance was due to one large investment that the chief investment officer, Russ, was committed to holding. Arnaldo had fielded several calls from investors who wanted Russ to sell the money-losing investment. So, when Russ asked for a meeting to discuss the fund’s performance, Arnaldo’s instinct was to make a pitch to sell — to solve the problem.

Cheryl Strauss Einhorn is the founder and CEO of Decisive, a decision sciences company using her AREA Method decision-making system for individuals, companies, and nonprofits looking to solve complex problems. Decisive offers digital tools and in-person training, workshops, coaching and consulting. Cheryl is a long-time educator teaching at Columbia Business School and Cornell and has won several journalism awards for her investigative news stories. She’s authored two books on complex problem solving, Problem Solved for personal and professional decisions, and Investing In Financial Research about business, financial, and investment decisions. Her new book, Problem Solver, is about the psychology of personal decision-making and Problem Solver Profiles. For more information please watch Cheryl’s TED talk and visit areamethod.com .

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Top 18 Conflict Resolution Skills Every Leader Needs

Examples of conflict management skills include:

1. Curiosity

2. Emotional Intelligence (EI)

3. Flexibility

4. Objectiveness

5. Integrity and Respect

6. Patience

7. Forgiveness

8. Positivity

10. Open Communication

To communicate during conflict:

11. Assertive Communication

When assertively communicating to resolve conflict:

12. Active Listening

To minimize conflicts:

13. Stress Management

To manage stress, Harvard Health Publishing suggests:

14. Collaboration

15. Compromise

16. Negotiation

To negotiate fairly:

17. Problem-Solving

18. Accountability

To be accountable and hold people responsible:

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