So how do you avoid these traps? Hill says it’s not always easy but by following a few rules of thumb, you’ll have a better chance of resolving the conflict instead of inciting it: Most people are very aware of what they meant to say but are less tuned into what the other person heard or how they interpreted it. “It doesn’t matter if your intent is honorable if your impact is not,” Hill says. Third, there’s often misalignment between what we mean when we say something and what the other person hears. Let that go and focus on trying to resolve the conflict,” she says.

“We’re often building a case for why we’re right. Hill admits that it’s normal to be defensive and even to blame the other person, but saying “You’re wrong” or “Let me tell you how I’m right” will make matters worse. Instead of trying to understand what’s really happening in a disagreement, we advocate for our position. “That’s because too often we end up framing the issue as who’s right or who’s wrong,” she says. In fact, it’s often the words we lead with that get us into so much trouble. The second reason that we often say the wrong thing is because our first instincts are usually off. Our discomfort can make us fumble over our words or say things we don’t mean.

“With conflict, there are typically negative emotions involved, and most of us aren’t comfortable with those kinds of feelings,” she says. Hill explained that the words we use in confrontations can get us into trouble for three reasons:įirst, the stakes are usually high when emotions are. So, when things start to heat up with a colleague - you don’t see eye-to-eye on a project or you aren’t happy with the way you were treated in a meeting, for example - how can you choose your words carefully? To help answer this question, I talked with Linda Hill, the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and faculty chair of the Leadership Initiative. She is also the co-author of Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation and Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader. Other times you might say the exact thing that helps the person go from boiling mad to cool as a cucumber. Sometimes, regardless of how good your intentions are, what you say can further upset your coworker and just make the issue worse. When addressing a conflict with a colleague, the words matter.

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