By AMA Staff
If you find yourself in a personality conflict, here are some steps to take to help you regain your sense of identity:
Be self-introspective.
Accentuate the positive.
Talk to the individual.
Keep communication channels open.
Treat everyone alike
Agree to disagree.
All of these are important, but most important are these three:
1. Be self-introspective. See what is the root cause of the personality conflict. Remember, as a manager, you aren’t immune from errors, so you may have made a mistake in your dealings with the person, whether employee, colleague, manager or customer. Could that be the cause of the disagreement? On the other hand, could your work or communicative style be so different that you have no choice but to clash.
2. Accentuate the positive. If the person is making an effort to work cooperatively with you, despite differences in outlook, demonstrate your appreciation of the effort. If it’s your manager, let him or her know that you welcome the effort.
3. Keep communication channels open. You can only do further harm to your relationship with an employee, coworker, or manager to cut off communication, even if it is only about work.
If you are in a situation where your identity feels missing, taking a step back can help. Learn how to find what you with this AMA seminar.
About the Author(s)
AMA Staff American Management Association is a world leader in professional development, advancing the skills of individuals to drive business success. AMA’s approach to improving performance combines experiential learning—“learning through doing”—with opportunities for ongoing professional growth at every step of one’s career journey. AMA supports the goals of individuals and organizations through a complete range of products and services, including seminars, Webcasts and podcasts, conferences, corporate and government solutions, business books and research.