Conflict is bound to happen, whether it’s between clients, colleagues, or stakeholders. It is as a part of life, as anything else. Conflict resolution is a key skill that’s valuable within any organization. Unfortunately, many people have trouble seeing the value of conflict resolution training. One common inquiry that is posed when it comes to conflict resolution courses is how do you track and measure its success? What metrics would you even use?
In this article, we’ll explore the best ways to measure the success of your conflict resolution training in the workplace and also how to use the results to improve your organization further.
How To Measure The Impact Of Conflict Resolution Training
One of the most overlooked areas of an organization or business is not investing in your staff’s soft skills and development. Too often, society believes that technical and hard skills are what should take precedence, when in fact, investing in courses like conflict resolution training has numerous benefits to your bottom line, productivity, staff morale and more. It would be easy to draw on and on about the benefits, but this article’s focus is on how to measure the impact of conflict resolution training.
Define What Success Is
In order to accurately assess and measure the impact of implementing conflict resolution in the workplace, it’s important to define what criteria you’ll be measuring and defining what success looks like for your organization. Conflict resolution courses teach your team a multitude of skills, from active listening to effective communication using different techniques and more. Depending on the type of training and skills your team acquires can shape how you define success.
This will depend on the nature, scope, and complexity of your overall measurements. It’s also important to set different parameters for the kinds of conflicts that occur within your business. For example, if you experience difficulties with a stakeholder dispute, you’ll want to resolve it by finding the best solution that satisfies all parties involved. Meanwhile, you may resolve personal conflict by restoring harmony among team members. By defining what success is, it’ll give you a clear indication of the impact later on.
Set The Stage With Appropriate Metrics
Once success has been defined, the next step is to choose the right metrics to measure them. Your metrics should be quantifiable indicators that easily allow you to track, measure, and evaluate the progress and outcomes of your conflict resolution efforts. It’s important to keep in mind when measuring conflict resolution there isn’t a one-size-fits-all set of metrics.
Common metrics to consider can fall into the following categories:
- Resolution Rate: This refers to the percentage of conflicts resolved within a specific time frame.
- Satisfaction Rate: This metric evaluates the degree of satisfaction expressed by the parties involved.
- Performance Improvement: This measures the improvement in team performance after a conflict is resolved.
- Relationship Enhancement: This assesses the enhancement in the team relationship after a conflict is resolved.
- Process Metrics: This can be used to measure how well the team follows the conflict resolution process or implements the strategies learned.
- Outcome Metrics: This can be used to track and measure the impact of conflict resolution on project results. For example, much time or money is saved or lost due to conflicts.
Using these metrics allows you to gain insight into the effectiveness of your team’s conflict resolution efforts.
Log And Analyze All Your Data
After going through all the meticulous (and semi-monotonous) work of setting your metrics, it’s important to be able to collect and analyze the data on your conflict resolutions. This system will involve various tools and methods that will help you record, report, and review the conflicts that occur within your workplace. Some elements of this system can include conflict logs to properly document the details of each conflict, surveys and feedback forms to gather involved parties’ opinions and feelings, interviews and focus groups to better capture their experiences and perceptions and finally, relationship indicators to track any changes in the team’s performance and relationships.
Templates or forms can be used to help streamline your conflict resolution feedback and to ensure the information you capture is complete and accurate. It’s also worth considering implementing scales or open-ended questions to gauge opinions. Benchmarks, comparisons, or trends can be used to evaluate the impact of conflict resolution in the workplace.
Compile The Report And Communicate The Results
At the last step, this is where everything comes full circle. After going through your data, you should be able to identify areas that have improved since implementing conflict resolution training and be able to evaluate which methods, tools and policies need adjustments to enhance their impact.
Communicating the results of this report does a couple of things. Recognizing best practices from successful cases promotes a positive and constructive workplace and opens up the floor to solicit feedback. It’s worth keeping in mind when creating your reports and communicating the results, it’s best to use clear, concise, detailed and tailored language to best suit the needs of your audience.
How To Further Improve Your Organization With Conflict Resolution Results
By taking the analytics presented in your report, you can improve your organization by creating a more inclusive, positive and collaborative culture.
With elements of the report, you can do the following:
- Identify root causes and patterns of conflict
- Provide evidence-based solutions and strategies
- Enhance your communication and feedback skills
- Measure the impact of conflict resolutions and their outcomes
- Understand underlying factors and triggers that lead to conflict
Improve Your Workplace With Conflict Resolution Training
Investing in conflict resolution courses goes beyond simply addressing conflict. It provided your organization with invaluable skills that transcend various departments and uses. It equips employees with the skills and tools to manage conflicts effectively and creates a work environment that promotes productivity, satisfaction, engagement, and overall well-being. As a business, it improves employee morale, retention, team dynamics, and much more.
At Negotiations Ninja, we are professional persuasion experts and negotiation specialists. We have decades of experience and are renowned industry leader. We take pride in helping businesses and organizations equip their teams for success. To learn more about our conflict resolution course, contact us today.