EM Leaders: Managing Conflict

Module Three: Managing Conflict

It has happened again. I opened my email inbox and read an email that has made me see red. I can physically feel my pulse rate rise and my muscles tighten as I swear and call the sender all kinds of expletives in my head. For a long time, I would succumb to the immediate ‘snotogram’ reply, copying in anyone who I thought would agree with my argument. Then a senior colleague took me to one side and gave me some sage advice: “Don’t wrestle with pigs. You just get dirty and the pigs enjoy it.” So these days, I try my best to take a deep breath, close my laptop and marinate on it overnight. If it’s a cause that I feel I have to fight because of my professional values, I organise a meeting to talk face to face. (I don’t manage this every time, but I am getting better).

Conflict is an inevitable part of being around other people. Different personalities and agendas can be challenging to engage with depending on our own unique style and priorities. You will probably have experienced conflict at work, such as having difficulty referring a patient, not agreeing with a nurse about a specific aspect of patient care or struggling to find common ground with the patient you are treating. You may (as I have) fallen into the trap of focusing your efforts on resolving the conflict by aggression or passivity rather than meeting the needs of the patient.

It’s useful then to think about different styles of managing conflict, which one is your ‘go to’ and which ones you might like to develop to help you in different situations. This blog talks about different styles of conflict management and when to think about using them:

EM Leaders Framework reference: (3.2) Working in Teams: Developing skills to engage with other specialities.

Queries, questions and comments are always gratefully received. Please send feedback to: kate.russ@uhl-tr.nhs.uk

HEEM EM Leaders Team: Kate Russ, Liz Saunders, Frank Coffey, Venkat Kotamraju