Practice Management Alert

Mastering conflict resolution can make a huge difference in your workplace culture.

Practice managers wear so many hats, and almost every role for which they’re responsible involves navigating relationships. And any relationship, no matter how developed or cherished or long-lasting, will involve conflict at some point. Throw in workplace stressors like overwhelmed patients, ever-changing regulations, and an ongoing pandemic, and the potential for conflict can be enormous.

Since, regardless of your responsibilities, you’re managing people as well as a practice, knowing how to acknowledge conflict and seek to help folks resolve issues is a must-have skill for your practice management toolbox.

Plus, employees will feel better about coming to work if they know any issues they may face will be acknowledged and treated with respect, says MariaRita Genovese, CPC, director of operations at the Department of Medical Oncology and Jefferson Infusion Centers at Thomas Jefferson University, in a presentation for AAPC’s HEALTHCON 2022.

Listen to Everyone

One of the most important ways to help employees feel respected in the workplace is acknowledging and honoring each team member’s voice. Even though team members may have differing levels of seniority or rank, honoring each individual’s voice is crucial.

“Every employee has a voice, and it’s really important that people understand that,” Genovese said.

One of the best strategies to make sure you’re able to access everyone’s voice, as a manager, is to engage employees during “rounds.” If you’re a manager, consider borrowing the practice of clinicians’ habitual checks on patients by having a formally scheduled meeting with each person on your team. Although the scheduling may be formal, the interaction doesn’t have to be. Scheduling 10-20 minutes for a coffee or a face-to-face sit down or a phone call, if remote, is an important way to make sure you know what’s going on with employees.

Rounding with team members is an important way of knowing what kind of support employees may need and being able to help them before any developing situations start to spiral.

“Rounding is so important because you need to know what’s going on at all times,” Genovese said. As a manager, you need to know what they’re seeing and whether they need help. It’s critical to employee engagement.”

If employees need support, like flexibility to care for a sick child or even just an ear to listen to how hard something feels, this is where you utilize leveraging any resources you may be able to tap into.

Making sure employees feel heard is also crucial to cultivating a healthy, happy workplace. Employees may love what they do but feel discouraged or dismissed or even dread coming to work if the culture isn’t inclusive or doesn’t acknowledge that conflicts of all sorts inevitably arise and require resolution.

Acknowledge Conflict Right Away

During the conference session, many attendees divulged that they were in managerial positions and felt overwhelmed whenever they had interpersonal conflicts developing or festering within their teams.

You have to acknowledge conflicts, Genovese said. Otherwise, team members will feel like their voices aren’t heard, their experiences don’t matter, and that the workplace isn’t welcoming.

There are myriad benefits to becoming more involved in resolving conflict. Being an active listener, confronting conflict head on, and helping folks find resolution leads to more trust and reduces stress at work. Increased conflict resolution can result in more employee satisfaction. Of course, managers want employees to be happy, because then they’re motivated, and their productivity goes way up, Genovese said.

Know Where You Can Grow

Seeing the conference session attendees divulge their concerns about their approaches to conflict showed a major upside: These folks, in management positions, were self-aware of their own feelings, and wanted to take the necessary steps to grow as managers.

Each individual, including managers, has their own communication style, and it may or may not jive with the rest of the people on a team.