What communication strategies did you use to resolve the conflict?

I recently experienced a conflict in the workplace with a colleague. The issue arose when she proposed an idea for a project I had been working on that I disagreed with and felt was not directionally sound. In order to try to resolve the conflict, I employed active listening techniques as well as assertive communication strategies. Active listening at this point consisted of me paraphrasing what my colleague said in order for her to know that I heard her opinion, while also repeating back her reasoning so that we would both be on the same page. For assertive communication specifically, I made sure to use clear language while expressing my opinion and making sure it was understood in a non-confrontational manner. This allowed us both to voice our opinions without diminishing each other’s ideas or causing further tension in the conversation.

The type of power being shown by myself is positional power which is derived from one’s job title or seniority within an organization—in this case, it is because of my role on our team that gave me authority over how decisions were made regarding projects and initiatives. On the other hand, my colleague was demonstrating referent power based off of respect for her skillset and expertise given certain tasks related to our projects within the organization; she has knowledge about areas where I have less experience which ultimately led to differing perspectives in terms of where we should be going with certain initiatives such as this one mentioned above.

Furthermore, two elements of communication present during this interaction were verbal and non-verbal cues; both played an important part throughout this conflict resolution process between myself and my colleague. Verbal language used by both parties during conversation helped provide clarity into each side’s respective viewpoint while utilizing respectful tones throughout—avoiding any aggressive or demeaning behaviors which could damage rapport between us even further; Moreover, non-verbal cues included facial expressions among many other aspects generally associated with body language (eyebrow raising/body posture) helped communicate feelings when words alone were not enough–ensuring there were no misunderstandings throughout discussion since intent could sometimes become lost without direct eye contact / facial expressions helping convey them properly across different cultures especially if dividing line becomes thin between such methods bridging gap signify shared understanding amongst all involved parties quickly easily clearly.