Public Finance: Mediating workplace conflicts in six steps

Six steps to help you resolve workplace conflicts

Conflict is an inevitable part of working life. The CIPD Good Work Index 2024 showed that a quarter of UK employees (an estimated eight million people) have experienced workplace conflict in the past year. And those in the public sector were more likely to report conflict (31% of staff) than those in the private or voluntary sectors.

When workplace conflict is left unaddressed, it festers beneath the surface, causing stress and distress not just to the people involved but also those around them. Colleagues take sides, cliques form, people get distracted from their work and productivity declines.

There’s a direct impact on employee engagement, wellbeing and job satisfaction. The CIPD survey found that only half of those who reported conflict were satisfied with their job, compared with 77% of those who didn’t experience conflict. The findings also suggest it is twice as common for employees who have experienced conflict to say they are likely to leave their job in the next 12 months, compared with those who did not report conflict.

In a public sector experiencing critical skills gaps, and where recruitment is nearing crisis point, the impact of workplace conflict clearly cannot be ignored.

So, what are the main causes of disputes and disagreements at work – and what can you do personally if you walk into the office one morning to find two of your colleagues or direct reports engaged in battle?

Causes of conflict

In my experience, workplace conflicts are caused or perpetuated by five main factors:

• A breakdown in a relationship between managers or colleagues, marked by poor communication, incivility or perceived abuses of power, leading to a lack of trust and feelings of stress, fear, betrayal and rejection.
• Being asked to undertake tasks that we may perceive as menial, patronising, beneath our qualifications or deliberately outside our ability, to make us look foolish or to embarrass us.
• Perceived inequitable allocation of resources to do our job – or to remunerate us for our work.
• The systems or processes that shape our workplaces. This might include the way a project team is constituted, how performance is managed, how we are treated when we speak up about an issue at work, the way our disagreements are resolved, and the way we are treated by our leaders when things go wrong.
• A misalignment between our values and those of our organisation or colleagues, giving rise to suspicion, anxiety and a growing sense of disconnect and detachment.

The CIPD has called on organisations to address the underlying causes of conflict – in particular, poor management practices and excessive workloads. But it is also vital for line managers to be equipped with the courage and confidence to deal with workplace disagreements and to nip issues in the bud before they escalate.

The role of mediation

Mediation may seem like something that has to be done formally through the correct channels within a pre-agreed framework; a job for a highly trained and qualified professional.

But, in reality, that’s not always possible. Sometimes, conflict is in its very early stages, or an organisation is not set up to enable a ‘formal’ process. Sometimes, a complaint or concern can flare up so quickly that no amount of forward planning can help.

This is where a manager – or sometimes a colleague – can step in, don the suit of diplomacy and attempt to get the warring parties back on track.

So, if you find yourself in the position of an ‘accidental mediator’, here are a few guiding principles to help keep things calm while the situation is resolved.

1. Acknowledge what’s happening. Recognise that a difficult conversation is going on and ask the parties if they would like help to resolve it. If they say no, you need to respect that – as long as it’s not affecting others. Be ready to offer your assistance again if the situation doesn’t improve.

2. Talk to those concerned individually. Take the issue out of the workplace or to a neutral space, where the individuals will feel safe having an honest conversation. Ask what happened and what they observed. Encourage them to talk about it in a depersonalised, non-blaming way. Be an active listener – don’t interrupt or offer suggestions. Summarise what you have heard.

3. Move to a joint meeting. After hearing from both sides separately, bring them together in a neutral place. Agree a basic set of rules, such as uninterrupted speaking and confidentiality. Invite them to speak one at a time while the other listens. Reflect what they are saying back to them to ensure everyone is understanding in the same way what is being said.

4. Be future focused. After this, focus on what they each need to happen next. Encourage them to talk about the future, not just the past. Not what they want to happen but what they need to happen to move on amicably. This often focuses the mind on practical solutions, but remember – they must come from the individuals, not you.

5. Handle any flare-ups. Accidental mediators, like professional mediators, may experience the odd flare-up, such as a walk-out or a heated exchange. Keep calm and work with the parties to de-escalate the situation, drawing on the ‘four As’:

• Acknowledge the situation and name any strong emotions
• Affirm that it is OK to feel worried/angry/upset, etc
• Ask questions to find out more – what is driving the emotion?
• Seek alternatives – how would you like to feel if you weren’t angry. How can you achieve that?

6. Check in. Once a solution has been agreed, keep checking in with both sides over the next few hours, days and weeks. Offer support if they need it and check that the individuals are content with the outcome.

The above six steps should get you through the most basic conflicts, and the principles will serve you well at any level.

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