What pushes your buttons at work? This is not an idle question. Knowing the answer can determine your ultimate success and happiness at work.  Why?   Because this type of self-awareness is required before you can make a conscious choice of the appropriate response to conflict in the workplace.

Making a conscious choice of the appropriate response to conflict in the workplace enables you to engage in “good” workplace conflict – the kind that generates creative solutions and increased productivity vs. crippling disputes and wasted time and energy.  Today’s blog is about understanding our hot buttons and in a later blog I’ll talk about the five basic responses to conflict and why it’s important to consciously choose the appropriate response.

Now, back to hot buttons.  Everyone has different hot buttons in the workplace.  According to Professor Stella Ting-Toomey, there are six core sources of conflict triggers  – hot buttons if you will:

• Competence – you’re triggered when you perceive that someone is questioning your intelligence or skills.
• Inclusion – you’re triggered when someone appears to be excluding you in some way (from a group, an event, a committee, etc.).
• Autonomy – you’re triggered when someone appears to be trying to control you, imposing on you, or threatening your self-reliance.
• Status – you’re triggered when you perceive that someone is threatening or dissing your tangible and intangible assets, including power, position, economic worth, and attractiveness.
• Reliability – you’re triggered when you perceive that someone is questioning your trustworthiness or dependability.
• Morality – you’re triggered when someone appears to be questioning your moral values or integrity.

Learn your own conflict triggers in the workplace. Understand what pushes your buttons – what makes you feel like you want to spit nails. This is the first step in  managing the inevitable conflict in the workplace in a more constructive and productive manner.

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Workplace Investigations Group is headquartered in Atlanta, GA but has a national panel of professional workplace investigators who are all attorneys and have a minimum of ten years of employment litigation experience.  As such, wherever the workplace issue arises, we provide you with an investigator who can respond to the regional need quickly and competently.   For more information:  www.Workplace-Investigations-Group.com