Conflicts within a team have repercussions not only for its members’ well-being, but also for the achievement of work objectives, resulting in loss of efficiency, lack of collaboration, absenteeism, damage to the team’s reputation, etc.

Very often in the Ombud’s Office, I hear the word “want” rather than “need”. “I want an apology from her”, “I want the guy to be fired”, “I want to be taken off this project NOW”, or even “I want you to resolve this issue for me”.

In a previous article, I underlined how conflicts may actually have a constructive impact when addressed in a timely and effective fashion.

As a CERN manager, you need to have access to many different channels of information. One – and perhaps the most important – of those channels is direct communication with your team and your peers.