When personalities collide – What can my business do

Workplace conflict is bad for business. Conflict affects workplace culture and consequently leads to downturn and increased absenteeism. Workplace conflict can be stressful and unpleasant for those employees involved both directly and indirectly.

There are two main type of workplace conflicts:

·       when decisions, ideas and actions are in opposition

·       or when two employees simply do not get along.

A difficult relationship with a colleague is a common cause of work-related stress.

Sometimes a conflict of ideas in the workplace can be productive if those that are involved are able to brainstorm solutions and can come up with reasonable adjustment to make improvement, incorporating individual ideas.

Personality clashes however, are rarely productive. A clash often starts small in nature but can often quickly escalate. Personality clashes are likely to continue to occur until attitudes and behaviours are adjusted accordingly. Behaviour of this nature must be addressed with the
individuals concerned. Often, employees are not aware of how their actions impact on others and when brought to their attention these types of matters are often resolved. However, left unaddressed , these conflicts may escalate leading to further incidents, may result in a complaint requiring investigation and subsequent disciplinary process.

How do I manage different personalities in the workplace?

We all behave differently in different situations. Sometimes these differences can be a challenge in both our professional and personal lives. Knowing an individual’s natural and adjusted behavioural styles means that you can make better decisions about the best way to utilise them within the business. Teams become more effective, projects can be planned appropriately and individuals are more satisfied with their work because they are doing work that is suited to them Extended DISC® helps us to understand why we differ and how we can more effectively interact with others, which leads to more effective communication and better results for you, your team and the organisation as a whole.

The 4 key benefits of using Extended DISC® in your workplace are to:

·       Develop awareness and understanding to improve communication, job performance and satisfaction.

·       Be a more effective leader by understanding how we differ in our expectations of each other.

·       Match results against job competencies to get the right people doing the right job.

·       Make more informed decisions on how best to utilise human resources.

Extended DISC® profiles can assist you to retain talent by revealing if the person is comfortable with their environment, if they are being stretched too far or if they are feeling restricted, allowing you to adjust their work accordingly.