How to Manage and Resolve Internal Conflicts While Working Remotely

Conflicts are inevitable, and even moreso in a remote work setting. However, there are steps you can take to reduce the amount of friction experienced between team members.

Employee conflicts are one of the main areas of concern in any workplace. Without resolving internal conflicts and reducing the friction between employees, a company’s productivity and profitability can be affected. Conflict resolution has become an even more significant challenge once many companies went remote after the pandemic outbreak. With no daily face-to-face meetings and less opportunities for interaction, resolving internal conflicts doesn’t always come easy.

Conflicts are more likely to arise in a remote workplace setup because of misunderstandings, insecurities, and unhealthy competition amongst employees. When left unresolved, such conflicts can have many harmful consequences for your company’s growth, especially in these tough times. In this blog post, we’ll look at some actionable strategies you can use to resolve internal conflicts while working remotely.

Ensure Effective Communication Amongst your Employees

One of the main reasons why more conflicts arise in remote workplaces is the lack of personal, face-to-face connection. It is easy to assume the worst-case scenarios and hold a grudge against coworkers when you do not connect in a typical work environment.

You can reduce the friction between employees by ensuring that there is clear and effective communication amongst employees. For starters, you should lead by example. You should try to communicate proactively and frequently with each of your employees. You should also set up team meetings for discussions and ensure that everyone is being heard in these meetings.

For enabling effective communication, you must invest in communication tools such as Slack and Zoom so that employees have a smooth way of communication amongst themselves. Likewise, for effective project collaboration between teams, it’s a good idea to invest in a project management software like Asana or Trello, as these enable you to seamlessly assign tasks, set priorities, and track deadlines.

Develop a Clear Process for Handling Conflicts

Just like you would have processes and systems for everything else, having a system for conflict resolution is also a good idea. Every time any conflict arises, you don't have to think and waste a lot of time on determining next steps. Instead, you can simply follow a system, leading to everyone likely feeling satisfied after the resolution.

Setting up a conflict resolution process also prevents problems from escalating and having major consequences after a long time. You can follow the process and get conflicts resolved as soon as they arise. An easy example of a conflict resolution process would be to begin by identifying the conflict at hand by speaking to your employees, followed by mediating the conflict with the help of a mediator who listens to both sides. The process can end by signing a written agreement if necessary.

Leave No Room for Insecurities in your Employee

Insecurities can be a huge factor that contributes to agitated employees leading to internal conflicts. And guess what? Insecurities can be 10x more prevalent while working remotely. Your employees may feel left out or neglected. They may feel that others are communicating behind their backs and conspiring against them. Your employees may even feel the fear of unemployment. And this may create a negative sense of competition, toxicity, and jealousy amongst your employees.

As a leader, it is your job to try to keep your employees away from such insecurities. The best way to do this is to be inclusive and considerate of everyone. For instance, some of your employees may be introverts and find it difficult to speak up in team meetings. These can lead to insecurities and conflicts. You should try to provide equal opportunities for every employee. You can do this by encouraging a culture of inclusivity where every employee is given a chance to speak up and things like ADA website compliance is taken care of for the disabled employees. 

These small steps will help you eliminate most of your employees’ insecurities, and everyone will grow together as a whole.

Encourage Employees to give Each Other the Benefit of the Doubt

Though disagreements can happen at the workplace, many of these might actually be mere misunderstandings. And assumptions can be the root cause of misunderstandings. For instance, any urgent request sent via email may seem rude and intolerable versus when it is said in person. In such scenarios, everyone has the tendency to assume the worst, and then the chain of problems starts.

As a leader, you can ask your employees to give each other the benefit of the doubt. You can encourage your team not to assume the worst and try to be more considerate. Of course, the best way to develop this culture is by following this yourself.  You can set up meetings to facilitate informal connections amongst your team. You can encourage your employees to share their personal stories and struggles over these meetings. This will make your employees feel more empathetic and kind towards each other, ultimately leading to less conflicts.

Set-up Team Building Activities for your Employees

Team-building opportunities can be another great way to reduce the number of internal conflicts that arise amongst your team members. Team-building activities can create a sense of belonging for everyone and reduce the toxic sense of competition that many might have developed while working remotely. You can set up both professional and informal team-building activities. These can be fun team connections, such as virtual team lunches and games, or also group learning sessions and working together on collaborative projects.

Conflict resolution can feel stressful and exhaustive while working from remote workspaces. And, ignoring such internal conflicts is not the best way to go about it because brushing problems under the carpet may lead to unexpected escalations in the future. So instead, set up conflict-resolution processes and encourage friction-free communication amongst your employees. Be a good leader and provide equal opportunities for every employee. Try these tips, and you’ll likely find less conflicts arising in the future.

Gaurav Belani is a senior SEO and content marketing analyst at Growfusely, a content marketing agency specializing in content and data-driven SEO. He has more than seven years of experience in digital marketing. He likes sharing his knowledge in a wide range of domains ranging from ed tech, e-commerce, startups, marketing to human capital management, and much more. His work is featured in several authoritative publications. Connect with him on Twitter at @belanigaurav.