Settling a conflict between two of your own people
At 7:40 the rebar truck driver knocks on the trailer door: he has waited 40 minutes and nobody will unload him. Outside, your assistant superintendent and your lead carpenter are arguing, in front of six labourers, about who sends them where. It is the third morning this week.
Stop the argument in public, hear each person in private, then agree the facts and a work rule with both, and check a week later that it holds. Conflict between two of your own people often starts with a rule nobody made: both think the decision is theirs, sometimes because you told each of them so. Treat it as a gap in how the work is run, and look for your part first. If one person's behaviour is the problem instead, give that person feedback.
- Get the crew working first: give today's assignments yourself, and tell both you'll see each before lunch.
- Hear each separately, the same day: what happened, what they need and what they would propose. Listen; don't rule yet.
- Meet together and start with the facts both accept and your own part, then ask each for a rule that would work.
- Decide the rule if they can't agree, write it down, add it to the responsibility matrix and tell the crew who instructs them.
- Follow up a week later, with each separately, and say so when the rule is working.
After lunch, with both
Common mistakes
- Judging from the louder story, or the first one you heard.
- Meeting them together before hearing each alone.
- Telling them to "sort it out", with nothing written down.
Action list
Today, if two of your people clash
- Hand out today's assignments yourself
- Talk to each alone before the day ends
- Write down the facts both accept
- Name the missing rule, and your part in it
- Book a check-in a week out
Check your understanding
In private, the lead carpenter says he won't work with the assistant superintendent and asks to move jobs. What do you do?
