Want to bring this to your team? Schedule a free Vantage Fit demo to see how mood tracking, guided meditations, and mindfulness minutes work alongside team challenges.
Workplace conflict refers to the discord, disagreement, or tension that arises between individuals or groups within an organization. Conflicts in the workplace can manifest in various forms, such as differences in opinions, communication breakdowns, personality clashes, competition for resources, or opposing work styles.
In this podcast, Penny Tremblay discusses more on this topic.
Key Takeaways
- Conflict has a measurable price tag. Penny cites a 2008 study putting the cost of workplace conflict in corporate North America at $359 billion a year. A later Myers Briggs study post-pandemic claimed that figure has doubled — driven by turnover, sick time, stress leaves, rehiring, toxic-culture damage to reputation, and litigation.
- Blurred org chart = conflict engine. When employees bypass their direct manager and escalate to the manager's manager, trust collapses and undermining starts. Unclear roles and missing accountability charts are among the most common structural causes Penny sees.
- Pandemic conflict was driven by the rate of change. Her team's COVID study found the single biggest cause of workplace conflict wasn't the pandemic itself but the velocity of change — on, off, home, back, new policy, reversed policy — colliding with elevated stress at home and from customers.
- Managers shouldn't shuttle messages between conflicting employees. The fix isn't the manager relaying what Person A said to Person B; it's getting both in a room with ground rules and facilitating. Penny trains managers in the same mediation techniques she uses professionally.
- "You can't build a castle on quicksand." Before culture training or team-building sticks, existing conflicts need to be excavated through mediation or workplace restoration. One-hour workshops cannot untangle knots that took years to form.
- Healthy teams welcome conflict about systems; unhealthy teams run it through personalities. Conflict about process is productive. Conflict about people needs to be put out fast before it spreads. No industry is immune — PhDs get along no better than anyone else.
- Stop fighting over text. Penny's rule: don't run difficult conversations through email, Slack, or social media. Typed arguments create "a permanent record of a temporary emotion." Get face-to-face if possible, video second, phone third.
In Penny's Words
On the business case for fixing conflict
When people are in conflict, they're typically not wanting to work together. They're resistant to ideas, spending time gossiping, creating mental and emotional stress that prevents them from doing their best work with a clear mind.
The cost of corporate conflict in a 2008 study was $359 billion a year — billion with a B — in corporate North America. After the pandemic, Myers Briggs claimed that number had doubled. And that's before the human cost.
On the structural causes leaders miss
A lack of integrity in the organizational chart — I call it blurred lines. If an employee goes to the manager's manager to complain about the manager, the integrity starts to break down. Trust is lost, the manager's authority is undermined.
When roles aren't clear — when there's no accountability chart or clearly defined "this is my role, that's your role" — there is conflict.
The rate of change was one of the highest-rated reasons for conflict during COVID. Everything was changing. People were stressed at home, at work, and dealing with stressed customers on top of it.
On how managers should actually handle conflict
The manager can't do Person A's speaking and listening for them, and can't do Person B's speaking and listening either. Shuttling between them makes it worse. The manager should bring them together, set ground rules, and guide the conversation.
You can't build a castle on quicksand. You need to excavate the foundation first. If an organization has conflict, resolve it before trying to train culture on top of it.
The best tool for conflict resolution is our ears. We have two ears and one mouth — a good indication we should do twice as much listening as talking. Listen with the intention of understanding, not responding.
On why digital arguments make it worse
We shouldn't be texting, emailing, or fighting on social media when we're in a difficult conversation. When we type it, we make a permanent record of a temporary emotion, and it can come back to haunt us.
The more connected we've become with our devices, the more disconnected we're becoming as a human race. A young man in one of my processes said, "I'm not going to ambush her with a phone call." Is that what we've come to — a phone call is an ambush?
Playing nice doesn't always mean being nice. It means standing up for what you know is important. And that doesn't always feel good.
About the Speaker
Penny Tremblay is an international speaker, trainer, and mediator. Founder of the
Tremblay Leadership Center and the Sandbox SystemTM, Tremblay teaches people how
to “play nice” in the sandbox at work, and when they don’t, she helps them fix
disconnected relationships.
Tremblay enjoys a spiritually connected life, and strong relationships with her children and partner in North Bay, Ontario, and Riverside, Rhode Island. Her “Joy” is a yellow lab and the great outdoors, which balance the hours spent serving clients both in person and virtually.
Connect with Penny on Linkedin
Show Notes
01:31 Can you tell us about your wellness journey so far?
02:59 How does workplace conflict impact employee well-being and corporate wellness?
05:16 What are the common sources or causes of conflicts in the workplace?
09:33 What strategies can organizations use to effectively resolve workplace conflicts and promote a healthier work environment?
16:40 Are there industries or types of workplaces that are more prone to conflict, and how can they proactively address these issues?
25:04 Would you like to share any valuable suggestions with our listeners?
