Sometimes it’s hard to know whether hiring in an outside professional to help with your small business or employee conflict is worth the investment. One way to assess is to measure the monetary cost for an outsourced professional mediator, consultant or coach against the hidden and not-so-hidden costs should the conflict continue without effective resolution.
Answering the following questions will help you, whether you own your own small business or work in a large organization:
- If the conflict is serious enough that it’s frequently on people’s minds, what losses could we experience in terms of low morale, low motivation, and poor decision quality?
- How much wasted work time has or will this conflict cause for those involved and the people who supervise and interact with them? Do I anticipate that lost time diminishing in the near future?
- Do I have an inside staff member with excellent conflict management skills and who is trusted by those involved? Does that person have the time to invest in helping out with this conflict and, if so, what other work can be set aside?
- Is there evidence that those involved have lost work time (sick days, for example) as a result of the dispute and do I anticipate that will end soon?
- For longer-term conflicts, how have job descriptions and work flow been altered to work around the parties in conflict? Given such changes, is the department or business operating as effectively or efficiently as it might?
- What will it cost the business to retrain or hire a replacement if this situation escalates to the point of resignation or firing?
- If this dispute is not resolved, what is the risk level for later legal and insurance costs?
- What are the image-related and other costs if this dispute becomes public?
Posted on Oct 17th 06 by Tammy Lenski.
Tammy helps people talk out their differences and build stronger work and home relationships in the process. She does this as a coach, mediator and trainer and works with people worldwide. http://www.lenski.com
Other posts on Coachamatic by Tammy Lenski.
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