5 Things That Prevent Workplace Conflicts and Encourage Collaboration.

Cooperation allows employees to work together towards the achievement of set objectives. It sets the desire of employees to compete against each other on the decline. Strife, politicking, or conflicts are never good for business, and leaders must eliminate conflicts by entrenching cultures that inspire their teams to focus on working together to achieve a common goal.

When you foster teamwork in your organization,  employees will most likely fight less. This will have a positive ripple effect on the organization's productivity index.

Hereunder are a few cultures that prevent workplace conflicts and encourage collaboration.

Respect

 As a manager, embracing workplace diversity helps you increase the talent pool and bring new ideas, perspectives, and skills to your team. However, it is also a major trigger of conflicts. This is mainly because most people often resent what is not like them. They reject or despise people who are different from them in appearance or approach. This predisposition is often the breeder of animosity against other colleagues which may progress into full-blown conflicts or unhealthy competition in the team. Emphasizing and upholding the culture of mutual respect will be of help in eliminating conflicts that are likely to emanate from interpersonal differences. Enthroning this culture is about helping team members see the need to respect other people's views.  To value superior arguments or ideas over sentiments. Also, as a leader, you must work to be perceived as one who shows no bias and makes everyone in the team feel valuable to the success of the organization. Encourage and help team members to improve their communication skills. If your people learn to partake in respectful discourse, they will likely feel more confident and willing to share ideas and thoughts with others. An increase in mutual respect will help in improving communication between colleagues, thus increasing teamwork while reducing workplace conflict.

Forgiveness

Getting offended is inevitable in life.  If you ever work or relate with other people long enough, you will find plenty of reasons to get offended. This is because you are dealing with human beings with imperfect natures.  People's backgrounds and experiences in life have a strong influence on their behavior, attitudes, and choices. When team members' values align the likelihood of peace and harmony becomes significantly high. But when they don't align conflict often arises in the areas of their differences. When this happens, offense, malice, and resentment may occur and take root resulting in a distracted, divided, and depleted team.  As a leader. it's important to help your team develop a culture of forgiveness ahead of conflicts.  Forgiveness is about candid conversation and the willingness to give people a second chance. It also includes separating people's actions from their intentions and the willingness to truly let go of offenders and the negative energy that follows. Most importantly, forgiveness is not complete without putting the past in the past. Forgiveness helps team members repair relationships and restore trust. Adapting the culture of genuine forgiveness will sustain peace and encourage collaboration within the team.

Cooperation

Leaders should demonstrate and help their team to cultivate the spirit of cooperation as a tool to further performance.  Cooperation is about fostering a condition of mutual support in which each member of the team feels supported. It includes the desire and ability to understand and respond effectively to other people from diverse backgrounds with diverse views. Cooperation involves sharing resources and knowledge freely,  learning from one another, eliminating interpersonal bottlenecks, to help one another complete jobs and meet deadlines.  It is about sustaining an atmosphere where team members work to see, one another succeed, and view their individual goals as shared goals. 

Cooperation is a key factor in team success.  Building a culture of cooperation requires helping your people understand the importance of maintaining a good relationship with other team members knowing that they need them. This in the end will make them relate with colleagues responsibly and work to eliminate or reduce the chances of a conflict with others. 

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to experience and relate to the thoughts, emotions, or experiences of other people. Empathy is not the same as sympathy. While sympathy is being able to understand and support others with compassion or sensitivity, empathy is simply about the ability to step into someone else’s shoes, Being aware of other people's feelings, and understanding their needs. Empathy demands three things: listening, openness and understanding.

In the workplace, empathy leaves other colleagues with a feeling that you care. An empathic leader builds trust that makes everyone feel like a team. Empathy establishes trust, increases loyalty, and reduces the opportunity for conflicts  Empathetic team makes everyone feel cared for and safe. Through people's willingness to understand others they develop closer relationships thus reducing strife and encouraging collaboration.

Justice

Justice is about equity and fairness. It is living up to your responsibility as a leader to promote equality and diversity in the workplace. A Culture of justice requires that you lead by example, demonstrate acceptable behaviors and attitudes, and treat all your team members fairly. Justice includes doing your part of the bargain and providing equal opportunity to everyone on your team. Giving your people what they deserve is a form of justice. Taking all the credit for a group's success is an injustice.  Withholding employees' salaries for no justifiable reason for example does not portray you as a leader that values justice. Injustice creates an emotional barrier to cooperativeness and collaboration.  It results in emotional distancing that breakdown cordial relationships. It always produces bile that often results in some form of workplace tension. This impedes morale, cooperation, and ultimately team productivity.

In conclusion, when a manager deliberately cultivates and upholds the above cultures in his team the possibility of eliminating workplace conflict and enhancing team collaboration increases.