Advice for Negotiating Workplace Disputes

Jeffrey Krivis, an experienced mediator and adjunct professor at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, offers suggestions for supervisors dealing with conflicts between employees.

1. Understand the basic structure of a negotiation;
2. Stagger the presentations to shift the balance of power and keep the parties off balance;
3. Check the reliability of your information;
4. Appeal to the parties on an emotional level to help them understand each other’s position;
5. Think creatively about ways people can cooperate rather than clash;
6. Deliver bad news with pacing and patience;
7. Use the “one-step” approach—prepare a proposed agreement based on the ideas of all the parties;
8. Sweeten the agreement with an apology, an acknowledgment of misunderstanding or some other symbolic gesture;
9. Trust your intuition and see where it takes you; and
   
10. Finally, realize that every conflict can’t be solved.

His article is instructive for ombuds and a valuable resource for mediation training programs. (Mediate.com.)