By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
In recent focus groups I conducted with nurse managers, they listed conflict management on teams and between departments as one of the top three activities they spend time on today. Focus group members commented that staff today don’t know how to navigate conflicts with other team members.
Social researchers have also observed this and have attributed the problem to less time spent playing with other kids when growing up, snow plow parents who get involved in their children’s conflicts with others, and a growing trend in social media to block or defriend others that you disagree with.
In a recent seminar, a nurse manager showed me a text thread from two of his night shift nurses in conflict with one another over a call light situation. Instead of assuming good intentions or going to the room to check out the problem, one nurse immediately accused another of ignoring his patient’s call light. The accused nurse told the other nurse to stay in her lane; as you can imagine, things deteriorated. Offended by this response, she decided it was essential to loop their manager into the text discussion at 2 AM even though a charge nurse was working the shift. The manager wondered why conflict management had become so complicated and why staff wouldn’t talk more directly to each other.
This leader posed an interesting challenge, one that I now hear more frequently during leader development sessions. Nursing staff today often don’t know each other well or feel psychologically safe navigating conflict. Leaders want to empower staff to solve their problems and create their solutions. So when should you get involved in a conflict between two staff members?
There are no easy answers to the question. Leaders usually have three choices in these situations. The first one is to do nothing. If the leader assesses that the conflict may subside on its own or that one of the parties will no longer be a team member, this may be the best option. The second option is to coach the staff to discuss their differing viewpoints with other staff members. The third choice is to mediate the conflict between the two staff members. This is a less desirable choice in most situations because staff don’t learn the art of social navigation, which is crucial for professional growth.
Sometimes, the leader might need to get involved to mediate the initial conversation about the conflict, as the nurse manager above ultimately did. If the dispute has escalated to a point where respect has been lost, the two individuals may refuse to converse without a third party being present. A second scenario might be if the staff member came to the leader and planned to resign unless the leader became involved. The final scenario would be if the conflict between the two individuals has impacted team morale and the ability of the team to deliver safe care.
Leaders must carefully consider what is happening before taking action in conflict situations. Your involvement may be needed, but to foster staff growth, consider coaching the first option. Conflict management is a learned skill that some staff don’t currently have but will need to be coached to develop.
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