In a world full of different religions, race, sexual orientation, educational and cultural background, we can say it won’t be difficult offending anyone as your ideology may pose a threat to theirs. Have you ever thought, “what really happens if my favorite person comes off as annoying and condescending towards something I value so much? In such an instance, what would you have done either to control the situation from escalating or completely avoid such a situation? But the truth of the matter is, is it possible to avoid annoying situations, situations that bring out the unpleasant version of yourself and that towards someone or people you have to trade with on a day to day basis? Well since there aren’t any sure button to press to make your day go as planned without being offended or offending anyone, here are several methods that serve as guidelines to make you at least not be overwhelmed by annoying situations like conflicts.
- Communication: As we all know, communication is highly effective in our daily activities as it transcends beyond words but actions and even tone play a huge part in communicating with others either at a workplace, school, outside or at home. Always ensure to speak clearly and respectfully, listen actively without cutting someone else off, never assume, rather ask questions to understand the other person’s point of view.
- Respect and Tolerance: This is beyond a show of respect towards older persons but even to your peers and even a younger person deserves respect, it is important to know what to say and do to people to avoid conflicts. This involves accepting the fact that people have different ideas, opinions and beliefs, respecting people’s personal spaces, boundaries, values and cultural backgrounds, and avoiding using foul language even when disagreeing with the other person.
- Emotion Management: Some of the greatest ability any man can have is to know how and when to react regardless of the intensity of the situation, don’t act too fast to avoid later guilt and don’t act too slow not to feel regrets later. It’s best to stay calm in tense situations, take a moment to breathe in and out and don’t be aggressive when expressing your feelings.
- Common Goals: This leads to an act of compromising, rather than focusing on differences, its best to work together and achieve common goals, settle on a spot that leaves everyone satisfied with the outcome.
- Problem-Solving: Knowing when to tackle a problem even before it escalates or becomes obvious is an underrated skill. To be flexible, to brainstorm solutions instead of spitting out blames is a smart way to solve problems.
- Relationship Building: In every organization, a very important key to the growth of such organization lies in the relationship amongst the people working in it, same goes for family. A beautiful relationship solidifies every home and every organization. So it’s important to show appreciation and kindness regularly, team building and bonding over possible activities are keys to achieving that.
- Setting Clear Rules and Expectations: Rules are meant to be followed and obeyed, it helps to guide and lead people on what should be done and have an expected outcome for every action. In workplaces, there are defined roles and responsibilities, and to avoid misunderstanding , there should be transparency in the rules, this void any form of bias that can further lead to bad blood.
- Mediation Seeking: Mediation is a form of help and even a greater form of help when it comes to conflicting situations, there should be no shame reaching out for a mediator when disagreement escalates. Mediation reduces bias and ensures fairness, and supervisors, community leaders can help to guide discussions that aid mediation.
The solution to every problem comes from the occurrence of the problem itself, the aforementioned methods are from critical analysis of several conflicts from the past, thereby this is only helpful to avoid such situations from repeating itself in future. Go through them and make good use of them to avoid
