Whether you are an experienced leader, or a new to the early years manager role, dealing with conflict situations within your team can be difficult to manage.
We work hard to develop a culture of cohesion, support and togetherness, so when the fireworks start to go off in our team, we may worry that we are adding more fuel to the bonfire rather than putting it out. For many of us, having challenging conversations and dealing with conflict can be something that we find difficult, but often, the difficult conversations are the ones that most need to be had.
In our sector, we spend a lot of time together, often in rooms or teams with the same staff members every day. This continuity is great for the children, but can become hard to manage is staff members fall out, or conflict arises.
Conflict within early years staff teams comes in all shapes and sizes and can often come from nowhere. If we consider the different experiences, personalities egos within our staff teams, it’s hardly surprising that one minute it’s all Mary Poppins and the next minute it’s more like Cruella De Vil! Conflict situations can cause lasting damage to your setting culture. Bullying, harassment and victimisation can lead to formal grievances, affect emotional wellbeing and mental health of your staff team, increase staff turnover and have a long-term impact on the children and families attending the setting.
So how can we, as leaders, manage these situations and ensure we have a calm and friendly staff team?
When you see a situation arising, it is essential to get on it quickly. Often conflict situations can escalate quickly and swift leadership can be all you need to nip any problems in the bud.
If you act quickly, you may be able to solve conflict situations informally. By giving people time to air their thoughts, frustrations and concerns in a safe and confidential space, conflict can be avoided. Bringing two people together to calmly discuss their concerns, listen to each other and talk openly with support is all that is needed to resolve a problem. Often people just want to feel they have been heard and that their feelings and opinions are valued. Giving your practitioner this space to listen and talk will require you as a leader to be supportive, facilitate the discussion and ensure that everyone gets a chance to have their voice heard. It is important that you do not jump to any rushed conclusions, but try to encourage both sides to respect the other and understand that they may just have to agree to disagree.
In a more formal approach is necessary, you will need to follow your settings policies and procedures. These should include policies which support you in manging conflict situations, such as a grievance policy, whistle blowing policy, bullying policy etc. By following your policy and procedure, you will have a step by step tool to help you navigate the muddy waters of staff conflict and ensure that you are fair and consistent in your approach. It may be wise to seek the support of an external agency should you feel that the matter needs to escalate further.
Just like we do with children, we have to acknowledge that it’s the behaviour that’s causing the conflict, not the person. It is essential to discuss and stick to the facts and avoid drawing attention towards behavioural patterns or personality types. If these do need to be discussed, this should be done in a personal supervision with the member of staff.
Having a culture of clear communication, clear role profiles, and an understanding of the pressures and workloads everyone is under can help to develop a strong team culture. When everyone works together for a shared goal and they will move in the same direction, conflict free. A culture of openness, candid feedback and trust can be instrumental in reducing conflict in the team.
Remember that you are not there to solve everyone's problems, but to lead your setting and team to deliver outstanding services. Lead by example, be open, honest and trust worthy and expect the same from your team. By demonstrating these behaviours, you are more likely to build a team where conflict is rare and open discussion is commonplace.