Work Matters: Leadership - Let staff solve it

As nursery practitioners, we deal with conflict every working day, be it the inevitable squabbles over the exalted 'big blue ball' (every nursery seems to have one) or who gets to sit next to Sally at lunchtime. Through training and experience we have well-versed methods of dealing with these instances. But what if it is the staff who are upset about their own 'big blue ball'?

In such an emotive industry, where staff work closely for long hours, and care so deeply about the work they do, it is hardly surprising that what may look like a petty squabble to the untrained eye becomes all encompassing.

- So what does a manager do when all does not go according to plan?

Having established an open-door approach to management, where I would rather hear about issues before they become one, I had inadvertently invited in many of these grievances. Before I developed a recognised and rehearsed strategy for dealing with them, my door would knock many times a day, issues easily spiralled, and time had to be spent repairing the damage. This became a huge drain on both my time and that of the staff involved. Not to mention the negative effects on staff morale - my own included!

When it comes to children, we favour teaching them ways of managing their own conflicts, to empower them and equip them with the skills they need. High/Scope recommends six steps to conflict resolution:

- Acknowledge children's feelings

- Gather information

- Re-state the problem

- Ask for ideas for solutions and choose one together

- Give follow-up support

Dealing with staff conflict should be no different.

Once staff are given a strategy to work through, they can deal with most minor issues, and management is informed purely in an advisory capacity. Should these steps be insufficient, or an issue recur, then the door of the manager is available to knock on.