What to Do with Work Conflict? 10 Coaching Practices to Try
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For What to Do with Work Conflict, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Practices that may help
- Collaborating (assertive and cooperative)
Work the underlying interests until you find a solution that genuinely meets both sides’ needs.
The Five Conflict-Resolution Styles - Competing (assertive, uncooperative)
Pursue your own position firmly when speed, principle, or stakes outweigh the relationship cost.
The Five Conflict-Resolution Styles - Engage in productive ideological conflict
Teams that avoid conflict don’t avoid disagreement — they bury it, where it grows into resentment and bad decisions.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Made Practical - Transform the relationship, not just the issue
Use each conflict as an opportunity to raise the quality of the relationship itself.
The Third Alternative, Made Practical - Separate the person from the problem
Treat the conflict as a problem you face together, not a contest you fight each other.
The Third Alternative, Made Practical - Disagree with your manager constructively
State your disagreement clearly, give your reasoning, and then commit to the decision — without sacrificing either honesty or loyalty.
Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss - Avoiding (unassertive, uncooperative)
Sidestep or postpone the conflict when timing is bad or the issue isn’t worth engaging.
The Five Conflict-Resolution Styles - Storming: name the conflict without taking sides
Surface the tension that’s already there rather than managing it away.
Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development - Use Collaborating when the relationship and the solution both matter
Collaborating — high assertive, high cooperative — finds a solution that genuinely works for both parties, but it takes time.
The Thomas–Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) - Bring a proposed solution when you bring a problem
Describe the problem and your recommended path before asking for a decision.
Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- We both keep digging into our positions and neither of us is really hearing why the other one cares
- Something’s genuinely wrong here and there’s no time to coax everyone to a comfortable yes
- Our meetings are all polite nods and "sounds good," and then the real opinions come out afterward in side conversations and quiet eye-rolls
- We solve the immediate thing but the same ugly dynamic underneath stays exactly the same, so the next disagreement plays out identically
- Somewhere in this I stopped seeing a problem we both have and started seeing the other person AS the problem
Related concerns
- How To Deal With Conflicts With Coworkers
Teams that avoid conflict don’t avoid disagreement — they bury it, where it grows into resentment and bad decisions.
Engage in productive ideological conflict
- How To Deal With Work Related Conflict
Pursue your own position firmly when speed, principle, or stakes outweigh the relationship cost.
Competing (assertive, uncooperative)
- What To Do With Workplace Conflict
Teams that avoid conflict don’t avoid disagreement — they bury it, where it grows into resentment and bad decisions.
- Best Way To Handle Conflict With A Coworker
Conflict lands differently for each style — match your approach to reduce defensiveness.
Adapt your conflict approach to the other person’s DISC style
- Conflict At Work Scenario
Pursue your own position firmly when speed, principle, or stakes outweigh the relationship cost.
- Examples Of How To Resolve Conflict At Work
Use each conflict as an opportunity to raise the quality of the relationship itself.
Transform the relationship, not just the issue
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.