BizQuiz: Can you temper team conflict? (Answer 2b)

2) B -Wrong.

Everyone bickers occasionally. One person has a bad day, and it rubs off on other people. If it happens infrequently, it's not a sign of dangerous conflict-it's just an average day for veterinary team members handling patients and clients in a sometime stressful environment. Cut yourself and your co-workers some slack and realize that small disagreements are small things.

To ensure big things don't develop, help your practice plan ahead by instituting a team-wide system for communicating about practice problems or positives. Everyone from kennel attendants to the veterinary technicians should be free to offer ideas and discuss them with fellow team members and the managers who can approve them. Shared changes work better when everyone had a chance to speak and everyone can contribute. Suggestions and complaints shouldn't be public displays and shouldn't be discussed in the heat of the moment or in front of clients.

A word of warning: If conflict over little things becomes a repetitive pattern of disrespect or disregard, it's time for a frank discussion with the team member-but never in the heat of the moment.

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