Using Empathy and Emotional Intelligence to Navigate Workplace Conflict in the COVID-19 Era
Workplace conflict is an unfortunate reality for anyone who works with other people. A workplace of any size contains some degree of difference in values, life experience and personal motivation that inevitably creates disagreement among co-workers, while customer-facing employees can face conflict on an hourly basis. There is no question that a workforce with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints fosters creativity and problem-solving, and sometimes, sharing moments of conflict with customers can be an opportunity to strengthen bonds with fellow employees. Unfortunately, other times, these moments of conflict escalate into stressful and tense situations – and these instances have been magnified by the Covid-19 pandemic, as everyone is coping with some additional layer of uncertainty, anger and frustration.