We all have or had experience with conflicts at work. Like a successful business woman, I had a lot of those situations. Conflict of interest or vanity can be a source of serious problems in the working environment. From my experience I can show you how you can avoid situations in which can appear conflicts of this kind, or if they occur, how to resolve them most effectively. 

Conflict at work may not always be negative – it can make constructive changes and motivate the group for higher productivity and goals. However, most conflicts with people have a bad influence on our work, but also our mood. Because of that, try to avoid conflicts and if they appear, learn to deal with them to mutual benefit. 

I have noticed during my working life in different companies and with different people, four main and most common causes of conflict among colleagues: 

1. Private anxiety in the workplace
2. Conflict of interests
3. Expressed vanity
4. Strong individual in conflict with the team 

1. Private anxiety in the workplace 

Each employee has a unique personality, living in complex social and family environment. Therefore, there are also some of their personal problems and frustrations with witch they are preoccupied, sometimes during working hours. Try to leave your personal problems at home, like you have to keep your business in the office. It is a feature of professionalism! 

I know it’s not so easy, but ask yourself: “Can I solve my business problems at home?” or “Can I solve my private problems at work?” Probably not in both cases! You will just feel more miserable and you will destroy your private life with the “business burden”, and opposite, you can do something stupid at work, because you are more sensitive, you can perhaps react impulsive and finally because of that you can lost your job. 

When you “catch” yourself that you are doing that, ask yourself those questions what I mentioned above. 

Let say your colleague behaves very strange to you and make strange decisions. If that happens – talk!

Maybe there is a very good explanation for that. Instead of furious reaction, politely ask your colleague for an explanation in order to understand a situation better. Listen and try to create a positive atmosphere. Chat friendly with your colleague. That is a best way to “open” him/her and discover the cause of his/her conflict behavior. 

Sometimes the awareness itself that there is a tension will be sufficient for other party to understand that it’s necessary to correct his/her behavior toward you. If your colleague “opens”, with the desire to share with you all what bothering him/her, then listen. But, be careful not to take an advisory role and not to provide “smart” advice, because maybe you are not adequately trained to solve complex human problems. Similarly, excessive interference in someone’s life, his or her problems may become lice. You don’t want that for sure, because you have your own! 

If you are the one with conflict behavior, because of your private problems, when you come at work, say to your colleagues that you have some private problems and politely ask them for help and understanding in case that you start to behave impulsive or furious. Also, say to them that you will do your best that those problems don’t have impact on your work and your relationship with them. Everybody will understand that explanation. It’s better to say that before you do something “stupid”. They can help you not to do that.   

Conflict of interest
Conflict of interest in the workplace can be a serious problem, for team members and for the company in general. This kind of conflict can cause various problems, from intolerance to the destruction of the reputation of colleagues. If it’s necessary, pull yourself from a situation that could represent a conflict of interest. You can inform your boss about the current situation. You do not need to be a tattletale, but always keep in mind that it is better for all if we know the root of the problem and if we react on time. Practice has shown that a good manager should monitor the situation in his unit, to eliminate potential causes that may lead to conflict, but he should always bear in mind that the conflict will not resolve by itself. So, in this case it’s the best to contact your boss.

Expressed vanity

There is vanity in every person, even in the small degree, but people are deeply convinced that there is no vanity in them. They are only on the surface, and they do not understand that the vanity is more deeply rooted. At work, vanity can be expressed on way that some of colleagues are always the “main speaker”. For example, he talks non-stop and evaluates the work of whole team from a position “how he came expressed” in that work. These people are very prone to conflict situations, especially if their contribution to the work is not particularly emphasized. How to easily overcome conflict situation with such people? Be smart- overcome your own vanity and consider your behavior!

Strong individual in conflict with the team

If team conflicts arising from personality clashes, they can lead to disagreement, mistrust and animosity between the team members. Recognition of this conflict is the first step to solve this problem. Ideally, a solution would be open and confidential exchange of views. If you find yourself in conflict situations caused by exaggerated individualism, try to explain to colleagues that the talent gets games, but teamwork wins championships. Teams do not need to be made up of people who love each other, but they must respect each other and different point of views. Only by working together we can put individual differences in the background, and thus successfully overcome conflict situations.