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O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U N E 2 0 1 5
flict. Take each complaint seriously, from serious accusations to petty
complaints. If something is bothering a member of your staff, you
need to resolve it as quickly as possible so small issues don't evolve
into big ones and serious problems don't explode into critical matters.
Next, bring the individuals together for a meeting. Make the purpose
of the meeting clear: to resolve the problem and restore a healthy
workplace environment. Set behavioral guidelines and your expecta-
tions for the meeting:
• Professionalism. Proper language will be used at all times. The
employees must face each other and make direct eye contact during
the conversation. Facial expressions and body language that portray
frustration are not permitted.
• Show respect. Ask the participants to take turns presenting their
concerns. When one person is speaking, the other must give them the
floor and commit to truly listening to the point of view without inter-
ruption.
• No finger-pointing. Ask the participants to discuss the issue by pre-
senting what happened from their perspectives instead of throwing
you did this and you did that accusations at the other person. The
meeting will be much more civil and productive when the participants
focus on how they feel instead of what they think the other person
did.
• Stick to the current facts. Frustrated employees have a tendency to
bring up issues that happened months or years ago that aren't rele-
vant to the issue at hand. It's your job to keep them focused on the
current
disagreement.
• Stay calm. This can be tough to do, especially when you're dealing
with a hot-button topic and people's careers or reputations are at
stake. When emotions run high, people tend to go off on tangents and,
S T A F F I N G
