It is a commonly held belief that employees are the most valuable asset of any business. On the whole, this is probably true, but there are often individual exceptions to the rule. I would rephrase this belief by saying that passionate employees are the most valuable asset, as they are working toward a common goal. It's when conflict enters the frame; this is when problems can occur in the workplace.

Office Feuds

Tension in the office comes in many forms. It can be frustration from communication (or the lack of it), poor management, or simply not getting on with your co-workers. Some form of tension will exist in nearly every office, but it is how it is resolved that is important. Long-standing tension might one day boil over, as seen in a recent example known as #shicklegate.

Shicklegate (as it was named on social media) occurred when an employee of a leading UK advertising agency wanted to “expose the failings” of his boss. His allegations were sent out to all 5,000 employees in the form of a resignation email. In it he listed various things he claims his boss had said or done. But then someone copied the email to Dropbox, and the email suddenly went from company-wide to worldwide. The Daily Mail, The Sun and the Huffington Post ended up covering it. The company then had to deal with the fallout.

Happy Offices

There are of course many offices – large and small – throughout the country that manage to exist (mostly) in harmony. Is this just down to the selection of people, or is there more to it? Some companies have pretty robust HR departments who will ask job applicants to fill out various personality tests before they are awarded with a contract; this is to make sure they will fit into the work environment and that their personality isn't likely to clash with someone else.

Another common process, especially in larger companies, is to bring in external trainers to carry out conflict resolution and mediation. These trainers will be professionals who have a large amount of experience across sectors and organisations. One such company in the UK that benefits from training professionals is McCain Foods, who use a company called PDA. Helen Hudson, head of learning and development at McCain Foods said: “The environment PDA create helps raise people’s self awareness about how they impact others”. Of course, training can be just as helpful for small businesses who have big growth plans too; it's important to iron out any problems before the staff network expands.

So, is it possible that if the UK media agency had used some form of additional staff vetting or training that they could have avoided the Shicklegate PR disaster? Perhaps. It probably won't always be possible to iron out every issue within an organisation, but there are at least methods to reduce this risk going forwards. Now it's time to ask yourself, do you know what's really happening in your business?

If you have any examples of how you resolve conflict in your organisation, we'd love to hear from you. Have you ever had a rogue employee or a manager you just couldn't get along with? If so, leave us a comment below so other people can hear about your experiences.