Conflict is a natural and inevitable part of the workplace and it will arise at some point in your practice. As a dental practice manager, it’s critical to train your team to acknowledge the conflict and work to resolve it asap while still maintaining positive relationships.
If a conflict is left to fester, things can spin out of control quite quickly and damage your team.
By using an appropriate process, you and your team will learn to address the concerns pro-actively and appropriately which gives everyone greater confidence. Don’t forget to be mindful about how the behavioural types (think DiSC) respond and manage conflict.
Confronting issues confidently, in a timely manner and then managing them effectively will demonstrate to the individuals and team that you do take these matters seriously. It also demonstrates you are doing so fairly with respect to the individuals involved by managing the concern in the appropriate way.
By tackling these issues as soon as they happen, you avoid building up negative feelings and emotions over time, especially before they become a major incident.
The biggest lesson here is that the process should not be about the person as it may then viewed as a personal attack. Rather, it should be based on performance or behaviour.
Resolving conflict with mediation
The goal with this process is for each team member involved to gain understanding of everyone’s different perspectives in order to expand their own beliefs and thoughts about the issue.
With mediation, you and your team members must be prepared to:
- Acknowledge the conflict and be prepared to resolve it.
- Discuss its impact on the team and its performance.
- Agree to co-operate.
- Put aside your own opinion for the sake of the team.
- Communicate honestly and openly.
- Keep your emotions in check to allow others to communicate and to be heard.
- Listen to other’s ideas, their approach and views on the issue.
- Try to see from the other individual’s perspective.
- Reach an agreement. Those involved decide what action needs to happen, by whom, by when.
- Commit to the actions to resolve the conflict.
Train your team to prevent conflict with these tips:
- Don’t get personal – stick to facts.
- Ask the other person for clarification.
- Be clear with your communications.
- Take ownership of a problem and the solution – don’t blame.
- Keep respectful.
- Don’t escalate the problem. Take time to calm down if you must.
- Don’t spread the conflict to others. Don’t gossip or tell tales.
- Try and understand the other person’s point of view.
- Focus on actionable solutions. Don’t be concerned with what can’t be changed.
- Take your conflict to the Practice Manager to resolve with this involved asap.
The Dental Practice Manager’s Commitment Statement to Resolving Conflict
I acknowledge that I play a significant role in this team in preventing conflict from escalating by handling situations in a mature and respectful manner. I promise to resolve any conflicts (I am directly involved with or that are brought to my attention) in private, with a positive mindset and work towards an agreeable resolution. I will acknowledge the other party’s opinion and concerns and promise to listen, learn and negotiate. I will focus on what contributed to the conflict and not lay blame or accuse. I agree to focus on how best to resolve or improve the situation and assist my team to also do so.
Would you like to learn more about leadership for the dental practice manager? As an ADAAMA member you have free access to Aspire2d’s Introduction to Leadership short course and you can receive a certificate of completion.