Doris Young Associates'
Young Thoughts
Volume 8 Issue II
February, 2008
IN THIS ISSUE
Effective Communication Resolves Conflict
On The Lighter Side
Effective Communication Resolves Conflict
Conflict is inevitable in health care. It can be constructive if it's source is understood and responded to effectively before it spirals and becomes overwhelming. If not, it can be a major hurdle that will
prevent a team from successfully performing.
Conflict may arise from many sources and some people seem to be incompatible. Members of a family may not even remember what the dispute is about, but all their lives they have been involved in interpersonal warfare. They make a choice to be contrary. This is also evident in sex, race, or age discrimination situations. Another example might involve two people in competition for the same position. Obviously, handling these situations in a direct, caring way is indispensable.
Sometimes work groups struggle with the distribution of scarce resources. If one group gets a raise that is inconsistent with other groups, conflict may arise. Getting specific days off during the holidays can produce extreme tension among the staff. People may join the workforce having had scarcity in childhood and interact in the work setting with a mentality of scarcity. Any time people have opposing needs, drives, wishes, or demands, whether they are internal or external, the possibility of conflict exists. Helping people work through these issues allows your team to refocus on the important matters. Hostile encounters are another source of conflict. If two people apply for a job and one aggressively tells the other that he or she shouldn’t apply for the position because of lack of background and/or the skills necessary to do it, the results can be explosive. A person can be passive-aggressive and talk about another to anyone who will listen. Individuals might even go to the person making the hiring decision and tell him or her about a lack of competency. Because both aggressive and passive-aggressive behavior is damaging to individuals and organizations, it must be addressed as quickly as possible. Role confusion between RNs and LPNs, can also cause conflict. If an LPN occasionally substitutes for an RN, a strong potential for an unclear role exists. The best way to manage this is to give clear expectations about what part of the role will be covered during the assignment. Unmanaged situations of this sort can result in power struggles. Frank communication can demonstrate to the individuals involved that their skills and abilities are acknowledged and appreciated. Sometimes, individual needs for togetherness and aloneness can result in conflict. Some people like to go to lunch alone and prefer working with clients independently instead of the team approach used by the rest of the staff. These people may not participate in staff meetings or join group parties. They may be distant from others. This can result in other employees feeling left out or discriminated against. It’s impossible to know the reasons without asking whether the person who doesn’t act as part of the team feels insecure or overconfident. Further, negative feelings from the rest of the staff must be addressed to reduce clashes. This effort is time consuming yet necessary. On the other hand, some people want to be too close at work. Although initially this may seem positive and caring, when people think their coworkers are family, it is problematic. The activities and conversations of the work team should remain professional. Personal comments can undermine the way people think and the level of confidence among team members. It takes time to determine and be receptive to how people think and feel which is the main path to reducing conflict. Educating yourself about the dynamics of conflict that may arise is challenging yet rewarding, and essential for healthy teamwork. To reduce conflict it’s important to become a great communicator. To become effective communicating with others it’s important to become aware of how you relate to others. Generally, we interact in four basic ways, according to the DiSC profile. These are known as dominance, influence, conscientiousness, and steadiness. These four behavioral styles combine in each person to create complex yet predictable behaviors. The goal is for all staff members to share freely from their unique perspectives. When you are able to empower individuals to contribute and feel valued, loyalty to your team is established. An individual with a dominance behavioral style places importance on shaping his or her environment by overcoming opposition to accomplish results. These individuals have a tendency to want immediate results, like challenges, make quick decisions, and question the status quo. They desire an environment that includes power and authority, opportunities for individual accomplishments, and freedom from controls. To communicate effectively communicate with them go straight to the point and assure autonomy. Individuals with an influence behavioral style place emphasis on shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others. Their tendencies include contacting people, being articulate, and creating motivating surroundings. The desires of these individuals in the workplace would include popularity, social recognition, freedom of expression, and group activities outside of work. Effective communication with the group would include some social interaction and a request for their perspective. Those with a steadiness behavioral style usually place emphasis on cooperating with others to carry out tasks. They have tendencies that include performing in a consistent, predictable manner, demonstrating patience, and developing specialized skills. These people desire an environment that includes explanations for any change to the status quo, predictable routines, and credit for work accomplishments. Effective communication with this group should include standard operating procedures and minimal conflict. Characteristic of a conscientiousness behavioral style places emphasis on working carefully within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy. Their tendencies include adhering to key directives and standards, concentrating on key details, thinking analytically, and weighing pros and cons. They desire an environment that values quality and accuracy and a reserved, businesslike atmosphere. To communicate effectively give this group clearly defined performance expectations and an opportunity to ask questions. You can become a skillful communicator by identifying behavioral styles and what naturally enhances performance. Everyone can become more aware and effective with increased personal knowledge and development. The number one controllable issue is our perception of a relationship.
It’s vital to concede that the other person’s perspective is not bad it’s just different. When we transform, it’s amazing how different the world around us looks. Understanding your behavioral style improves relationships at home as well as work, thus allowing you to generate relationships that are gratifying. To reduce the chance of conflict it’s essential to learn to really listen. Our first goal as health care providers is to hear what is being shared—to repeat the facts. You’ve heard that Jane is unhappy with her work and you can reiterate the details. You’ve paid enough attention to catch what was said. Understanding, the next aspect of listening, happens when you interpret information. You hear that Jane is asking for a meeting with her peer and you. She has been a very receptive and compliant individual up until this point. You wonder why she is so unhappy with her work situation now. You ask yourself if she’s experiencing burnout from working so many extra shifts. Next, judging occurs. Did you believe what you heard? You may decide to check things out with some objective observers. Health care providers deal with lots of information. We respond to people and situations according to our ability to hear through our filter. Our capacity to understand is affected by our patterning. Our judgment to act is based on the message and our filtering patterns. Albert Ellis developed rational emotive behavioral therapy. He describes three fundamental things that take place in response to any life situation. These are his ABCs. The letter A stands for the activating event, an incident within our personal space. B is our belief or bias about that occurrence. C is the consequence, or our response to what has happened, based on the state of affairs and our belief about it. We have no control over how or what situations come to us. Our belief system or bias directly affects our response to the world. This is our filter. And this plays a big part in our response. The goal is to respond rather than react. When we respond, we give ourselves time to think things through. Reactions happen without thought and are complicated by unconscious past events. It would be nice to think that we are totally objective, but it simply isn’t true. It is estimated that people filter out or change the intended meaning of what is heard in 70 percent all communications. Remember the telephone game when we were kids, where one person started a message and passed it on to another and so on? The message was very different when the last person repeated it out loud. An empowering perspective and effective communication will help you resolve conflict. Communication is a complex subject. Breakdowns can occur in a number of places, including the sender’s filter, the message, clarity of the message, and the receiver’s filter. The sender must be clear about his or her message and aware of his or her filter when communicating. The receiver must know his or her filter and have the ability to interpret the message as intended. Increasing your knowledge about others while understanding your beliefs can result in many positive solutions and reduce conflict.
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