WEEK 5 - Communication and Conflict management.
Disagreements
are real in every relationship. As I work with families, colleagues, students
and other supporting staff, I see issues come up often that require my
understanding, cooperation and intervention.
Recently, our
head of nursery section has had issues with her caregivers on punctuality and management
of drop offs and pickups of the children on particular days. Some parents come
in very early and unfortunately there are no care givers to receive the children
because the staff on duty has arrived late. Despite her efforts to discuss and
make a new roster that should work well with the caregivers, things have not
changed much, and she decided to issue official warning which unfortunately has
generated personal conflicts. She has been accused of lack of sensitivity and
others too are accused of incompetence and inability to follow laid down procedures
My involvement was to do a basic analysis of what went
wrong and why we are unable to cope with the scheduled time. My new learning of
nonviolent communication paid off. I decided to be compassionate and listen to
the needs of everybody while establishing the concern of the management. I
found out the root cause of the conflict which in my opinion has to do with
unclear needs, lack of fairness, and insensitivity. I had one on one
discussion with the people involved and communicated clearly the expectation of
the supervisor and management, and we were able to come to agreement on the way
forward. I contacted the parents who have complaints and we resolved by
providing alternatives, everybody was happy.
I was able to resolve this conflict because I learnt
to pay attention to the needs of the people involved and did not ignore the
pains of the other person or consider it not important. My focus was on
compromise and not on punishment which helped everyone to cooperate. The 3Rs
helped me in my approach. Being respectful and responsive to needs of the
people really helped me to discover the depth of their personal problems which
we were able to resolve.
Well done, Mercy! It is encouraging to hear of success with the skills we are learning and it gives me encouragement as I approach issues at my school. I too have had repeated issues with staff arriving or leaving on time, especially due to budget concerns - but really listening to the concerns and honestly stating the needs has helped at least some.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the encouragement.
Mercy,
ReplyDeleteConflict is much easier to resolve when both parties are willing to make their views known, and they are will to communicate. This helps them to reach a solution that is beneficial to everyone. I think that you did the right thing, and this shows that nonviolent communication can promote conflict resolution.
HI Mercy,
ReplyDeleteBeing able to apply what we are learning in our current work and life situation makes it so much more valuable. It sounds like having the tools you needed to resolve the conflict made the process seem less stressful. I think that one of the important things that I have learned is that conflict should be looked at as a learning experience where you can help to build trust with the other people.
Mercy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this conflict and the strategies you used to help resolve the conflict. When people involved in a conflict are passionate about their positions it is important to have a mediator. A mediator can proxy for everyone and share their concerns and work towards a solutions.
Great post this week, you seemed to have handled a conflict that we all have been through very well I hope that if I find myself in a similar situation that I can handle thing as well as you did. great work.
ReplyDeleteMercy,
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful post and shows your good conflict resolution skills.
You showed neutrality and were able to tackle this position by getting to the root of the problem. Good job!