When you see conflict between your team members, what do you do?

Our reader poll today asks: When you see conflict between your team members, what do you do?

• I stay out of it and let them settle things on their own – 17%
• I point it out and ask them to resolve it – 23%
• I offer to assist in resolving it – 31%
• I step in and coach them to resolution – 24%
• I immediately jump in and resolve things as I see best – 5%

Teach them to resolve conflict. Ignoring conflict on your team can lead to more conflict in the future. What’s important is helping team members build the skills to resolve conflict on their own. There might be conflict simply because they don’t know how to deescalate things or they lack the tools to do so productively. Many of you indicate you offer to step in and help as well as offer coaching on how they can handle things productively in the future. Don’t shy away from doing so. By offering, you’re allowing them to choose whether or not to get assistance. When it’s their choice, the likelihood of them listening and internalizing what you’re teaching goes up significantly. Staying out of the conflict is just a recipe for future problems – get involved.

– 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.