In just about any community, you’re bound to have those of many different lifestyles living within close proximity to one another in their residences. What this means is that conflicts are bound to come up from time to time, and those managing the community should know how to diffuse this tension and practice healthy conflict resolution. In an ideal scenario, you will walk away with a satisfying answer for both parties experiencing conflict, as well as for you and your management team. 3 simple tips for resolving community conflicts are:

  1. Meet separately at first – While tensions are still high, you’re going to want to get both sides of the conflict without escalating the situation. To do this, meet with both parties experiencing the conflict first, get either side of the story, and then let the situation cool down before bringing the parties together to come up with a satisfying solution.
  2. Listen more than speak – When getting either side of the story, or coming up with a solution, it can be tempting to guide or take control of the conversation as a community manager. The best thing you can do, however, is simply listen and allow them to do most of the talking. You’ll find that you learn more about the conflict, and by acting simply as a guide, a better resolution that works for both parties will be put into motion.
  3. Don’t wait too long – While time may heal all wounds, it doesn’t necessarily heal community conflicts. In some scenarios, a small conflict may arise and with time the parties work things out themselves, but you’re more likely to see an escalation situation than one of convenient independent resolution. Ideally, you will want to have a resolution in place as quickly as possible.

Effective and positive conflict resolution is important to a happy community, and creating the type of community that residents want to keep coming back to. At OccupancySolutions.com, we assist community management teams with finding the most effective conflict resolution possible, and if conflict resolution is something your community could benefit from, contact us today.