Are they tired? Without energy? Have less motivation? Or more frequently absent from work? All are indicators you should be aware of.

Is anyone trying to build alliances, talking behind other co-workers backs? Also notice the energy level of people. You can also look at the social gatherings. If you’ve observed this, you should consider if there is conflict building up. How can you spot a conflict as it begins to arise in the team? First of all, you should be looking at the behavior: perhaps one of your co-workers starts acting differently or doesn’t want to cooperate with others or appears more introverted than usual. Having stressed employees can evolve into conflicts much faster than usual.

Or we are overwhelmed by something or someone.

Being under pressure, and not having the resources to work faster can be a stress factor that makes tasks more complicated.Īnd everyone knows what happens when we feel stress. Often we see that conflicts at work start because of hardcore deadlines and a heavy workload. Conflicts starts from the littlest things, but in the workplace, there are often a few trigger-points. Have you ever wondered how a conflict between you and someone you know started? Maybe you can’t even remember. Our thanks to Tine Dührr, digital content manager at Finduddannelse.dk for permission to use this poster and this extract from her article, ‘Conflict at your workplace’.

Conflict resolution quotes