The video on conflict resolution skills shows an individual who is instigating a conflict by complaining about a range of things such as the nationality of the new receptionist, cleanliness of the garage, and his car being blocked (Seven Dimensions, 2013). Therefore, some of those complaints are valid such as him not being able to move his car to go home, but others are out of his prerogative. The lesson I learned from the video is that conflict resolution requires patience. It is visible that the ‘complainer’ is visibly agitated and being offensive. However, demonstrating similar frustration at his demeanor would only escalate the situation. Instead, the manager practices patience, he listens to the complainer voicing his concerns fully. He then addresses them point by point, first making the notion where the complainer may be correct, and the vehicle does need to be moved. However, then the manager simply states the matter of fact that there will now be a new receptionist and the garage will be clean, slightly alleviating the concern by stating that the best cleaning service in town will be hired. Using rationality, the manager deescalates the situation and leads to a natural resolution.
Remaining calm and attempting to see the other individual’s perspective is the key first step to conflict resolution. Unless there is some evident danger to everyone around, the person instigating the conflict is simply having an emotional reaction. Efforts should be made to reduce the emotions, as the manager did in this case by using a calm but direct tone, using gestures to articulate in a way that was lowering tensions, gently touching the complainer to reassure them. The manager also practiced active listening, making the complainer feel that they are heard, and then leading on to list the appropriate solutions to the issues that were brought up. I liked the video the best because despite being a comedic sketch, it showed truly an optimal way of handling a conflict situation with an unruly complainer, hitting on many steps of the conflict management process without making it awkward.
References
Seven Dimensions. (2013). Managing a complainer: Cutting edge communications comedy series [Video]. Infobase. Web.