Workplace tension exists. It’s hard to pretend that it doesn’t, especially when the evidence for it is staring you in the face. While it seems inevitable that two people who have very different personalities will clash, this can actually be avoided.
Yes, you can easily manage workplace tension, as long as you know how. When workplace tension gets avoided and ignored, the grievances pile up. Before you know it, you have employees who won’t communicate. This becomes even more of an issue at this point because now you have work that isn’t getting done properly. It’s time to stop workplace tension before it becomes a problem.
Here are several reasons how you can do so.
1) Teach Communication Skills
While it seems obvious that your employees know how to communicate with each other, this may not be the case at all. The communication skills that people learn in school don’t always teach them how to share their feelings with others.
You can manage workplace tension by teaching these skills. Sometimes people really don’t know how to talk to someone who grew up in a different environment or culture to them. They may not realise that certain words or phrases can hurt another person’s feelings. The more time you spend explaining this, then the clearer this will get.
As a result, you’ll have employees who think before they speak and don’t hurt one another’s feelings.
2) Use the Proper Software
How can software help manage workplace tension? The answer to this question is actually very simple – it can give employees a little autonomy, thereby making them happier overall. We know that unhappy employees are more likely to get mad at one another.
Giving them the proper solutions, including the ability to switch shifts with each other and make any other schedule changes, actually makes them happier. On top of this, you can use these software programs to keep everyone informed of things like upcoming programs and new clients. The more you communicate with them, the more they’ll know, and the more smoothly everything will run.
We know that worried employees are very likely to lash out at one another. By communicating effectively, this issue goes away.
3) Don’t Waste Time When Dealing With Complaints
Remember that it may take some time for an employee to officially complain about one of their coworkers. Things may have been tense for months. The employees might have traded barbed insults several times. The complaint might only appear once things have really reached a boiling point.
As a result, you can sit around and wait for things to resolve themselves. Instead, sit each employee down individually right away and talk about the issue. Then, call them both into your office and have them hash it out in front of you. Communication and dealing with these issues quickly are the two keys to really solving the problem. This is how you manage workplace tension.
4) Have a Complaint Logging System
Another good way to manage workplace tension is by having a notation system in place. This system needs to be online, or at least on your computer system so that it’s easy to track. You’ll be able to tell if a particular employee has problems with more than one person this way. The chain of events will be clear.
If you need to get rid of a problem employee, then you’ll have everything all written down. You also need to encourage your employees to go to HR when the issue first develops. Otherwise, things will escalate, as we explained above. The sooner that the complaint or problem is logged, the better. There have been many examples over the years of what happens when an employee reaches the end of their rope. You don’t want to this to happen.
5) Train Everyone
Another good way to manage workplace tension is by holding additional training sessions. In some cases, problems erupt when one employee knows how to use a particular program, and the other doesn’t. This skill problem can lead to miscommunication and frustrated employees. Stop this issue before it starts by having everyone attend a training session. This will get everyone on the same page. There won’t be any skill gaps.
This method also works if there are workplace issues between a leader in the company and one of the employees. When this happens, it’s either because the leader doesn’t really know what they are doing skill-wise, or because they aren’t sure of how to lead. Need examples? Well, if the employee knows more about something than the leader, then they won’t respect them. Or, the leader might be new to the position and unsure how to proceed.
In either case, the leader needs more training. You can hold a workplace leadership training session to solve this problem. This won’t call attention to the one employee.
