Brooke Wolford

By Brooke Wolford

Back in January, I wrote a blog post about a recent dispute I had with another practitioner.  At the time, the incident had just happened and it hadn’t been completely resolved.  Things are finally getting pieced together.

The whole situation was a hard thing for me to go through.   My fellow co-workers had always given me respect and knew that I did things professionally.  But in every office there is always the one person that maybe doesn’t share the same opinion as you.  In my case, I was the type of person who doesn’t get into all of the drama.   But when I started getting e-mails from others in my office, the day after the situation happened, I was floored!  But at the same time I did not respond to the e-mails and questions from other people in the office.   I felt it was inappropriate to say anything.   But at the same time, it was hard for me to hold back the urge to defend myself.

But I still tried to take the high road.  This has been a whirl wind experience for me. But from every experience, there are valuable lessons to be learned.   Here are some tips to better handle an in office dispute.

1. Until the issue is resolved, keep it to yourself.
2. Be an adult and try and work it out with the other practitioner.
3. If you can’t get the issue resolved between you and the other practitioner, always get your manager involved.
4. Make sure you have your facts straight.   Speculation doesn’t get you anywhere.
5. Try to put yourself in the other persons shoes.
6. Don’t let yourself get too worked up.  Letting yourself get emotional will only hurt the situation.
7. Be willing to comprise, if possible.
8. If you are right and you have the facts to back it up, don’t give up!
9. Don’t get down on yourself if you’re wrong.   We all make mistakes!

Brooke Wolford is a real estate practitioner with Edina Realty, Hastings, Minn.  Follow her blog at strugglingrookierealestateagent.blogspot.com.