Even though you may have taken all the necessary steps to stop conflict before it starts, it’s going to happen anyway. Healthy conflict should be encouraged and embraced. Unhealthy conflict should be resolved as quickly as possible. Here are some tips to help you resolve conflict in your remote team.

1. Clear, Timely Communications

One of the biggest causes of conflict on any team is, as we’ve identified, communication issues. Of course, there are different types of communications (asynchronous or synchronous, for example), and each requires its own kind of management.

When conflict arises, it’s often better to put down the pen (or keyboard) and pick up the phone or video camera. As soon as a conflict bubbles up, talk with the other person. This gives you a chance to hear their tone instead of reading, and possibly misinterpreting, it. And, in the case of video, you can see the visual cues you might otherwise miss.

But, make sure you’re talking with and not at the other person. To do that, you’ll need to engage your active listening skills. This means really listening to every word the person is saying, not coming up with your response when the person is only halfway through speaking.

2. Don’t Ignore the Small Stuff

Addressing conflict sooner rather than later is the best way to manage it. However, it’s just as important not to overlook something that may seem minor.

For example, sometimes an employee may think they are doing the team a favor by not mentioning a conflict, or agreeing for the sake of avoiding conflict. If it happens repeatedly, that “quiet” person may grow resentful.

As a manager, it’s essential for you to ask the right questions about what may seem minor and to draw it out so it can be resolved before it blooms into a larger, harder-to-resolve conflict.

3. Accentuate the Positive

Because it’s difficult to understand tone in written communications, help your team start from a positive position, not a negative one. For example, when someone receives a brief, blunt email, help the recipient reframe their assumptions.

Instead of assuming the sender is being snippy because they are angry, encourage your employee to start by thinking they were just having a bad day. Perhaps they were buried with work and fired the message off quickly to move on to other tasks, and weren’t upset with the recipient at all.

On the flip side, train the team to be positive with their messaging. Encourage them to not respond to messages when they are busy, stressed, or having a bad day. Give them permission to take an appropriate amount of time to create a thoughtful, intentional message that cannot be misinterpreted.

And encourage everyone on the team to drop certain types of written communications if they create more problems than they’re solving.

4. Ask Often

If, as manager, you sense that the team is in conflict, simply ask if conflict exists. Of course, you may not want to be so blunt. Try one of these questions to root out the conflict (and its cause):

• I sense there’s some disagreement here. Am I right?
• What’s the best approach, in your opinion?
• Am I wrong in thinking this might create problems for you?

In a trusting, open workplace, people should feel safe answering these questions openly and honestly. Even better, you won’t have to ask the questions because team members will bring up their conflict as soon as it happens.

 5. Get Confirmation

Even with video enabled, a virtual meeting isn’t the same as a face-to-face one. You can’t “feel” what’s happening in the room. And, you don’t have the same face-to-face view in a video chat as you might in a conference room.

Confirm everyone is in agreement and that everyone understands what is happening. This can go a long way toward eliminating conflict before it starts.