How often do you find yourself in the middle of disagreements between your team members?

Our reader poll today asks: How often do you find yourself in the middle of disagreements between your team members?

• Never. They resolve things on their own 23.53%
• Sometimes. They put me in the middle of the toughest issues 64.71%
• Regularly. They pull me into many disputes between them 10.59%
• All the time. They involve me in every little dispute they have 1.17%

Stay above the fray. Most of you (88%) report being able to stay out of the middle of disagreements between your team members. And hopefully for the times you do get dragged into it, you’re coaching them on how they can resolve it versus giving them the answer or resolving it yourself. It’s a great use of your time to teach your people how to resolve conflict. It’s a lifelong skill that they’ll carry through the rest of their professional career. If you’re struggling with being put in the middle, try coaching your way out of it. Ask them “what are some possible ways you can solve it? What options have you already tried? Why didn’t they work? How might you try these new resolution options?” Have them think through the issue themselves rather than being an enabler and giving them the answer. You’ll both be happy that you took this approach when they learn to resolve things on their own.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.