Rising Workplace Tensions: What Managers Can Do to Support Their Teams
- Richard Birke
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Rising gas prices, increasing grocery bills and the growing cost of everyday essentials are creating financial strain for many workers. Add in global conflicts, political uncertainty and concerns about the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace, and it’s easy to understand why many employees are feeling heightened stress and anxiety.
Managers are being asked to not only maintain productivity, but also help teams navigate stress and uncertainty and steer the ship during these trying times. Here are a few ways managers may be able to reduce tension and support a more productive workplace:
Make positive workplace culture a daily priority.
Double down on a positive workplace culture and make it functional piece of each worker’s day. That sense of belonging and camaraderie can have a positive psychological impact on both their own self-esteem and their relationship with work and productivity.
Be transparent and communicate often
When people don’t receive all the information they are requesting, they tend to fill in the blanks themselves. When that happens, they often don’t make the kindest assumptions when they feel like information is being held from them. In stressful times, people want to know leadership has a plan. Just as importantly, they want to understand that plan and feel they have some voice in how it moves forward. Having some degree of agency can make tension productive, turning it into a spur to action rather than a purely negative emotion.
Address toxic dynamics early and consider outside help.
If your workplace culture is less than positive, take that very seriously. At the risk of being self-serving, my advice is to bring in professionals with conflict resolution experience to help identify obstacles and opportunities that lay between the current state of affairs and the one you hope to create, and to lay out a plan to get from here to there. Why not use an inside resource? It’s rare that an insider, no matter how astute or experienced, can view a situation as objectively as an outside professional. Except in rare circumstances, insiders often lack the neutrality and credibility needed to be trusted by all parties involved.
The topic of workplace tension is deeply complex, shaped by countless personalities, perspectives, backgrounds and interpersonal dynamics. At the workplace, we see a cross-section of people, and each person has a different tolerance for stress and triggers. We see them interact and have to be prepared to adapt our skills and abilities to all types of situations. That’s a big task, requiring supervisors to exercise flexibility, patience and sound judgement. While workplace tensions may be unavoidable during uncertain times, thoughtful leadership, clear communication and early intervention can help stress from becoming lasting conflict.
Richard Birke is the chief architect behind JAMS Pathways and is experienced at resolving complex, multiparty disputes. With over 35 years of hands-on dispute resolution, he draws on experience in a wide range of disciplines, including mediation, psychology, economics, law, communications, negotiation theory, strategic behavior, and diversity, equity and inclusion, to apply the right tools to every client situation.
