In my team, there were two colleagues whose relationship deteriorated to such an extent that the atmosphere they created was terrible.
They were far away from resolving it themselves, hence I decided if I could do something about it. Calming them down and taking out the heat from the situation was my first and foremost aim. Thereafter, I arranged for a three-way meeting later in the day in a meeting room away from the section in the hope that there would not be any disturbance. I ensured that I was the in charge all the time of the discussion of the issues and that the aim was to arrive at an agreeable positive way of moving ahead or a compromise. It is very necessary to understand every person’s feelings and standpoints, without having the need to agree with them. It wasn’t that easy at first as both of them just tried to prove themselves right. However, I put my diplomatic skills into the picture and made them realize that there was no future in the present situation and that the only possible solution visible was a compromise. About an hour later, with a shaky compromise, we left the room.
However, I ensured that whenever they had to face similar situation, the first thing that would do is to be more civil and later on, be friendlier towards each other in time. T