How Can I Help Employees With a Personality Conflict Get Along Better?
So long as the individuals collaborate or cooperate with one another, there is no reason to intervene. If you must step in during the early stage of a disagreement, your intent may be only to remind the two parties how their behavior can easily escalate into angry words that will make it more difficult for them to work together in the future.
Further, point to how the organization expects collaboration and cooperation from its employees. Disagreements can add to the tension in a workplace that is already stressful. Within a department, coworkers may choose sides either in a personality conflict or a dispute over an issue, complicating the situation. Remind them, too, that positive work relationships can make their work more satisfying and pleasant and much less stressful.
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If this reminder is sufficient, and the two parties reach a compromise or agree to disagree in a manner that does nothing detrimental to the work environment, you need to do nothing more. If they continue to spar with one another, then you need to get tougher, pointing out to both how a continuation of their behavior will be reflected in their next performance assessment. Behavior that intrudes on department performance like this demands action—possibly including termination of one or both parties if they can’t learn to work more cooperatively together.
You may also want to offer to mediate between the two parties if the problem demands the involvement of a third party.