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Conflict in the workplace is very common. Especially working remotely, interactions are scattered, and less frequent and most of them are written, through emails, chat, or slack, which helps to increase confusion and alienation.
Deepak Chopra recently shared his principles of peace consciousness to help world leaders resolve their conflicts, especially to avoid war.
They are also a good reminder of how you can approach misunderstandings and minor conflicts at work to help you and your coworkers find alternative ways to solve differences by first understanding your own internal conflicts.
12 Principles of Peace Consciousness by Deepak Chopra
1) Treat your adversary with respect. Respect your differences, even though you may not understand them, try to find the value in them.
2) Recognize that normally both sides perceive injustice.
3) Be courageous enough to ask for forgiveness and strong enough to offer forgiveness.
4) Refrain from belligerence. Always look for a solution.
5) Work to dissolve us-versus-them thinking. Think in terms of We: how this can impact us, how we can work together to solve it, and how we can celebrate our success.
6) Practice emotional intelligence. Conflicts cannot be resolved by pure, cool reasoning. Emotions are at stake in every conflict. Value positive emotions (peace, alliance, solution) over negative ones (competition, being better, anxiety or revenge)
7) Communicate without violence. Instead of finding who to blame, find how to work it out.
8) Be self-aware. Analyze how you think, if you follow the same patterns, like repeating the same mistakes, and hoping that the same old actions will bring new results. Seeking new solutions is the highest form of self-awareness.
9) Acknowledge that the highest human values exist in other cultures too, not only in yours.
10) Take the viewpoint that diversity enriches the world. Conflict by its very nature attempts to impose “my way” and therefore is threatened by the other, but the other can bring new perspectives and ideas to find a better future for everyone.
11) Refrain from proving the other side wrong. By insisting on being right, you make the other side wrong
12) Keep ideology off the table. Leave everyone to cherish their own beliefs without intrusion from you.
While you don’t have to avoid conflict, respecting diverging opinions and welcoming conflict as a way to find together the best option increases psychological safety at work and makes or breaks organizational performance. The quality of one’s relationship with one’s teammates can impact performance, engagement, and innovativeness. A “winning at all costs” mindset can be replaced by a we culture, collaboration, and “fail fast” mindset so that employees don’t feel threatened and get more engaged instead.
