Time Management Skills, Communication Skills and Conflict Resolution – Which Approach Saves You Time

Mar 25
10:34

2008

Paula Eder, PhD

Paula Eder, PhD

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Do your co-workers share your views on time and how best to use it? If not, don't let your differences sabotage your projects! To learn 5 ways you can strengthen work skills while dealing with conflicting time philosophies, read on…

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Finding time may seem to depend on full consensus between you and your coworkers. But probably differences exist between how you and they relate to punctuality,Time Management Skills, Communication Skills and Conflict Resolution – Which Approach Saves You Time Articles planning and procrastination. Sometimes these differences seem light years apart, threatening to stall progress on essential projects.

However, you can learn how to utilize this to everyone's mutual benefit. Welcoming conflicting outlooks as invitations to expand options can improve communication and productivity in surprising ways. Furthermore, you can carry these skills into every area of your life. Cultivating these skills will improve communication and open up fresh options with friends, family and anyone else you need to coordinate schedules with.

What potential benefits can you tap by making the best of conflicting time styles?

Opportunity #1: Clarify what's of prime importance to you. Pare it down and negotiate for it. Every strength you develop increases your resilience and decisiveness.

Opportunity #2: Attune yourself to others' varying approaches to time use. Genuinely accepting individual differences in time styles will benefit you in four ways:

First, accepting that you cannot control others' behavior redirects your energy into more productive channels.

Second, as others notice you are not attempting to change them, they relax and become more receptive.

Third, when your colleagues feel respected, they are increasingly likely to negotiate successfully with you.

Fourth, effective compromising increases flexibility and clarifies lines of power and responsibility. Different time styles often reflect different priorities. Explore how this can work to your mutual advantage. For example, one of you might accept added responsibility if you can make your own hours. The other might hold down the fort 9:00 - 5:00 if it means they needn't take work home.

Opportunity #3: Commit to creativity. Thinking outside the box carries negotiations beyond rigid power struggles. For every problem, there is a resolution that honors the integrity and needs of each person.

Opportunity #4: Present the challenge in terms of shared goals. Keep the focus on the rewards you and your colleagues will enjoy. This stimulates cooperation.

Opportunity #5: Invite others to contribute ideas. The more invested everyone is in the problem-solving process, the more dedicated they will be to making it work.

Negotiating different approaches to time use will challenge each of you to grow. Rather than framing needed changes as a sacrifice, consider the benefits of identifying and honoring the baseline needs of everyone. You will develop vitality and confidence to encounter challenging conditions in ways that improve morale, promote effectiveness and save you time.

What will be your next step to find more time?