I remember the first time I lost my cool as a leader. I actually raised my voice out of frustration to a team member. Was a new leader with tremendous responsibility and managing several critical business issues through my team. Pressure from my leadership and external customers felt overwhelming. My team was having conflict internally and with our customer. When I lost control and actually had an out of body experience seeing myself out of control, I immediately realized it was all avoidable. I had not been prepared or even took on accountability to prepare myself for conflict as a new leader. I had coached others on this topic, but did not internalize it myself. Let me help you not make my mistake.

Strained relationships between employees and executives cause up to 80% of workplace conflict, according to a study by the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management. As a leader, you play a major role in helping your team to work smoothly together.

Teams usually bring...