Grievances At Work

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Grievances in the Workplace

Grievances at work can be time consuming.

There are two approaches that may be used to handle grievances in the workplace.

1. Prevent grievances from happening, by eliminating their causes.
2. When grievances do occur, handle them effectively.

Let us look at the two approaches and build two methods.

Prevention is better than cure.

Grievances are usually caused by one of four things.

1. What someone did.
2. What someone failed to do, or
3. What someone said.
4. What someone failed to say.

If you can improve the quality of the performance, and especially the language, of the key members of your management and leadership team, then the incidents of grievances will be reduced.

If there are certain people whose behaviour or language tends to generate problems, then you may want to train them.

Train them on personal effectiveness skills and ask them to stop doing the things that cause the problems, (which is often the way they communicate to colleagues).

If you want to prevent the grievances, then send your managers on our two-day leadership programme.

What if you cannot prevent it and you have an existing grievance?

Six-Step Method to Handling Grievances

These six steps will help you handle grievances effectively:

1. Listen without interruption.
2. Empathise (without implying agreement).
3. Question to get the facts (apart from the feelings).
4. Answer: Logically evaluate the facts and formulate your answer.
5. Confirm: Ensure they understand your answer.
6. Close the conversation or change the subject, when understanding has been reached.

Summary: How to handle grievances in the workplace

If you want to learn more about how to effectively handle grievances at work, please take a look are our Conflict Management training course.

It is worth memorising this list and remember the method, next time you need to handle a grievance.

1. Listen.
2. Reflect.
3. Question.
4. Answer.
5. Confirm.
6. Close.

Conflict Management

Conflict Management Training

Conflict is inevitable, because people disagree. Therefore, you must be able to handle conflict situations effectively. You must know how to be assertive, clear and professional (not emotional, upset and angry) whilst in conflict. If you want to learn more on how to achieve this, please click here to see our conflict management training.

About the Author: Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years’ experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.

Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.

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Further Reading in Conflict Management and Handling Difficult People

• 6 Step method to handle difficult people
  6 step method to handle difficult people On occasion, you have to handle difficult people. But there are two major contexts in which that can occur: When you are the one who is taking the initiative to speak first. When the other person is the one who is taking the initiative...
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• Conflict Resolution Skills
  Disputes within your organisation can be costly. Therefore you need to have a number of skills, including listening and questioning skills, together with negotiation and emotional management skills, in order to quickly find resolutions.
  Read Article >
• Fixing Bad Relationships at Work
  When faced with resistance at work, it is important to remain clear, rational and positive. When you express negative emotions verbally, it is counterproductive. Avoid venting frustrations onto others by maintaining composure and positivity.
  Read Article >
• How to Handle the Workplace Bully
  People bully others for a number of reasons, but unless you deal with them quickly and decisively, the bullying will just carry on. Here we offer some useful advice on how to handle that workplace bully. Don't be a victim of bullying at work.
  Read Article >
• Reason vs Excuse
  Learn to distinguish between a reason and an excuse; be determined, but not stubborn; separate facts from fiction.
  Read Article >

Looking for Conflict Management Training?

If you're looking to develop your Conflict Management and Handling Difficult People Skills, you may find this Conflict Management Training Course beneficial:

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