Are You In A Personality Conflict?

If that is where you find yourself, here are some steps to take:

Be self-introspective.
Accentuate the positive.
Talk to the individual.
Keep communication channels open.
Treat everyone alike
Agree to disagree.

All of these are important, but most important are these three:

1. Be self-introspective. See what is the root cause of the personality conflict. Remember, as a manager, you aren't immune from errors, so you may have made a mistake in your dealings with the person, whether employee, colleague, manager or customer. Could that be the cause of the disagreement? On the other hand, could your work or communicative style be so different that you have no choice but to clash.

2. Accentuate the positive. If the person is making an effort to work cooperatively with you, despite differences in outlook, demonstrate your appreciation of the effort. If it's your manager, let him or her know that you welcome the effort.

3. Keep communication channels open. You can only do further harm to your relationship with an employee, coworker, or manager to cut off communication, even if it is only about work.

Thanks to AMA—American Management Association