Leading conflicting conversations

How do you respond to conflict? 

Do you charge in, guns blazing, ready to take down anyone who stands in your way? Or do you crawl into your turtle shell and hope that, if you hide out long enough, it will just go away? 

Whatever your conflict style, if you're leading a team, you can't let your personal feelings get in the way of helping your team sort out the issues that come up. 

As a leader, it's your job to create a safe space and facilitate open communication so issues can be brought to the surface, rather than festering way longer than they should. 

As uncomfortable as it may be, your team can move on from conflict much quicker if you allow everyone to talk it out respectfully.