2 Motivation and Conflict

Leading PeopleLeading People

Motivating StaffMotivating Staff

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Dealing with ConflictDealing with Conflict

Motivation

Managers can't force staff to be motivated.

Management creates the conditions that best motivate individuals.

People react in a motivated way based on their own needs, wants, and ideas.

Effective managers help by relationships they build with staff and making a good work environment.

Building Relationships

We want to build trust and respect

Balance of being friends and maintaining authority, so that staff feel they can approach you but still obey instructions

Depends on individuals

Motivation

Consider why your staff go to work - why did they choose this job or choose to stay here?

Most managers don’t think about this and are happy if staff are getting their jobs done.

Motivation

Working conditions - good equipment and facilities, hot, cold, breaks, hours

Social Interaction - isolation, social fun etc

Job Security – contracts

Promotion and job title

Trust and respect - not a machine

Recognition, appreciation, praise

Responsibility & Challenge – allowed to use skill and initiative, chance to learn

Participation in decision making, feel belonging / part of a team

Salary - pay ok for the job

Management – no bad issues

How do we Motivate ?

What are some of the things we do well?

What can we do better?

• Give staff some power

• Tell them they are important; recognise good work

• Recognise the negatives

Motivate

Should you treat everyone the same?

Young person in first job

Worker at another organisation for 10 years, joining the team

Technician joining the team

Has been at similar organisations for 20 years and close to retiring

Motivate: Mix

Example In village health centres NGOs use

enforceable contracts, financial incentives, user fees, and achievable goals to motivate staff.

Example: Allowing Responsibility Sok was a new manager who had been promoted in a large

organisation. She wanted to be a good manager and make sure her team was completing its tasks well. After a short time, Sok became tired because she felt caught in the details of her team's work and unable to deal with larger issues.

She spoke with her boss about her frustration. He asked her how she was working with each team member, what did she expect. He suggested to Sok that she sit down with each one and let them know what her expectations were for their work and for the team. He then advised Sok to ask each person how he or she would do the work to satisfy those requirements.

After doing this, Sok felt a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The focus for doing high quality work had shifted from her to her team members. She also found that her staff seemed more satisfied with their work, and their performance improved. This allowed her more time to focus on bigger issues that needed attention, while letting her team members take responsibility for their own work.

This story says that effective managers will set high standards and expectations for their team members and then allow them to do their work to meet those standards and expectations.

Dealing With Problems

One small issue can spoil all the motivation

Remember Starters and Stoppers

CONFLICTCONFLICT

What is Conflict?

Conflict: a disagreement where the people involved see a threat to their needs, interests or concerns.

Perception

People in conflicts tend to see

their idea of the situation,

not an objective view of it.

Conflict is Normal

Think of conflicts likely to come in your workplace

Consider your own work place

What are some sources of conflict in our workplace?

When do they tend to occur?

How do people respond to these conflicts?

When we solve problems:do we fix it for now, ordo we make ways to fix these problems in the future?

Manage Conflict

Are there seasonal peaks in our workload that tend to occur annually?

Look at the time of such peaks, and ask if they can be managed as a normal period of stress.

Act before time

Manage Conflict

Do we have a way to look at normal problems and concerns in a predictable, reliable manner?

Staff meeting is used as a tool for effective problem-solving for situations, including anticipated conflicts.

If this method is seen by staff as closed, unsafe, and non-productive, it will be replaced by gossip and back-biting.

Manage Conflict

Are there some things in the office that make problems worse, especially at times of conflict?

Look at how we manage during stressful times.

How is work allocated? Resources?

Often, our response during times of stress is to meet less frequently, because 'we have no time.'

We do things the old way, because 'we have no time to change.'

We repeat the same errors, rather than learn from the problems.

5 Ways to Manage Conflict

4 Less-good ones

Competing - your own needs are put over others. It relies on an aggressive style, and the use of power.

Accommodating (smoothing) is the opposite of competing, diplomatic.

Avoiding is a common response to the ‘bad idea’ of conflict. "Perhaps if we don't bring it up, it will blow over," we say to ourselves. But, most times the conflict gets worse until it becomes too big to ignore.

Compromising is an approach where people win and lose in a series of tradeoffs. While good, compromise is generally not satisfying.

The ‘Best Practice’ Way to Manage

Collaborating - the pooling of individual needs and goals toward a common goal.

Often called "win-win problem-solving,"

needs assertive communication and cooperation to get a better solution than either individual working alone.

A chance for agreement, to work together for our needs, and the chance to get entirely new outcomes.

Collaboration

Example You are unhappy your staff member is always

slipping out early on Fridays, and his pc antivirus is never up to date

Your staff member says he needs to get to the mosque, and the internet is always too slow

You agree that he comes in an hour early every Friday

He gets to go early and meet his personal needs

In the morning the internet is fast and you get the antivirus update done.

Cambodian Style

The direct approach ? it’s rude affected by power difference

Get rewards for avoiding negotiation Less powerful person – seen as polite Higher person – seen as powerful, respected

How do you overcome directness?

Effect of Power Difference

Take a BreakTake a Break

Some Tips

(6) Steps to Dealing With Conflict

1. Good Place

To have a good open conversation, people need to feel they are in a "safe place".

If possible, use a private, neutral place to hold your conversation, best: a space that isn't "owned" by one person or the other. If the conversation starts in a more public place,

suggest that it might be helpful if the two of you could move to a more private area.

1. Good Time

Be sure that the time is also suitable. Do not rush.If time is limited, agree on a topic for now and then set up a time to follow-up. You might say, "Let's get started now, have a think and then get together again."

1. Use a Helper ?

Consider the use of a third person to help with the situation

A mediator can:

give a feeling of fairness (a referee)

help with power difference.

2. Agree the Problem

This sounds like an obvious step, but

… different needs, interests and goals - people see problems very differently.

You need to agree the problem before you'll find a good solution.

3. Listen …. Hear

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood"

Use Active Listening skills

Prepare to listen: Take a deep breath and relax Remove distractions Sit to face the other person, with an open body

posture Focus on listening as your first priority

Active ListeningWhat to Do How to Say It

Encourage the other person to share his or her issues as fully as possible.

"I want to understand what has upset you." "I want to know what you are really hoping

for."

Check the real issues, don’t assume. Ask questions to get this information, and to show you are trying to understand.

"Can you say more about that?"

"Is that the way it usually happens?"

Restate what you have heard, so you both see what has been understood so far - it may be that the other person will then realise that more information is needed.

Repeating, but in your own words.

“Parroting”

"So it was like this?"

Reflect feelings - be as clear as possible. "I can imagine how upsetting that must have been."

Value the concerns of the other person, even if a solution is not easy. Showing appreciation can be a very powerful message if it is conveyed with integrity and respect.

"I am happy that we are talking about this issue."

"I am glad we are trying to figure this out."

3. Active Listening

Restate

Paraphrase

Summarize

4. Assert Your Needs

Give your side

State what you need clearly

Stay clear in your own mind about the concerns that matter to you

Continue to listen

5. Problem Solve

Identify issues clearly and concisely

Explore several solutions

Be open to other views

Make the decision

Say what the reasons are for decision-making

6. Follow Up

Check that it went how you said

Booking a time for this gives staff positive feelings that you mean it

Discussion

What is a conflict you have had or are having?

Discuss ways to work with it

What if: There Are Many Groups

Patiently make sure that all points of view are heard, that issues are clear for all to see (on a board is best), and that all members in the group accept what is being negotiated.

It takes longer.

What if: They Don’t Want to Talk

It is much better if both people want to fix the conflict.

By first listening, you see what he or she wants, to talk things out. This isn't about being 'right' or 'wrong', but getting the other person to join in the process.

However, the other person may still not want to negotiate a solution!

In this situation, shift away from the problem and focus first on procedure.

What if: They Don’t Want to Talk

Another idea is to focus on the future, rather than solving problems we had in the past.

By being flexible about the agenda - topics you care about, but not the most urgent - you can reduce the fears that stop a solution.

While you may not be able to solve the conflict, you will still be able to manage some of the key issues that exist and prevent those issues from getting worse.

What if: We Get Stuck

You can not see a solution. People feel stuck, frustrated, angry, they might either dig their heels in, or pull out from negotiation.

At such times, it is important to refocus efforts on the underlying needs, interests and concerns of the conflict: What do I really need here? What are my desired outcomes? What are my alternatives if I pull out? Use the ideas before: focus on procedure, the

future. Can we go to other issues we need to discuss?

What if: Its Not Working

Check what is truly happening: Is it a real difference of ideas about the problem, or is it trying to "save face" in an embarrassing stand-off? Giving people a way out may help. So try to be patient, stay open to new ideas and look for ways to keep the dialogue open for another day.

Questions?Questions?

ThankyouThankyou

Produced by Tony HobbsHealth Poverty ActionRatanakiri, Cambodia

www.healthpovertyaction.org

With the support of Australian Volunteers Internationalwww.australianvolunteers.com

© 2011 HPA. Use with Acknowledgement

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