Managing Conflict in Relationships

When working in an industry such as early childhood education, it is important to have some conflict management strategies in your back pocket. As a director of a preschool I have often times been faced with very upset parents who on an anger scale of 1-10, were a 10. It's important that I know how to handle these situations so that they do not further escalate and simply because it is part of the customer service aspect of my job.

One strategy that I have used in the past with teachers who were not getting along is to have them take a 20-30 minute break to cool down before our meeting to discuss the problem. This is an example of an escapist strategy because at that moment we are avoiding the conflict. Sometimes I feel like this is the best thing to do to allow people to calm down and really think about things. Emotions are sometimes too high to try to resolve the conflict right away.

Another strategy that I use with both teachers and families is a cooperative strategy. Cooperative strategies focus on problem solving and trying to meet the needs of everyone involved. Let's say, for example, that the Smith family does not want Harper to transition into the one year old room next week because they feel she is still too little. Even though she is a year old and I need her spot to open up in three weeks for a new child starting, I compromise with the family and explain to them that I can allow her to stay in the infant classroom for another week but after that she will have to transition. The family walks away feeling satisfied because they feel like they were heard while I am satisfied because I still have the space available for the new child. This is a win-win situation.

Another example of compromise within my workplace involves teachers arguing over whose turn it is to complete the portfolios. One teacher is claiming that she always does the portfolios and that she is sick of doing all of the work. The other teacher is adamant that she completes portfolios just as often and now that she is accusing her she just won't do any. I handled this very simply by dividing the portfolios in half. One teacher was assigned one half while the other teacher was assigned the other half. I kept record of which teacher had which children's portfolios so that I could keep track if someone wasn't pulling their weight. The teachers felt like this was a fair solution to the problem and everyone walked away satisfied.