Give an example of how you handled a very tense situation at work?

Before tensions get worse, leaders should turn down the heat and get everyone back on track. They can use three simple communication steps.

Step1: Empathize. Listen, and then show that you have heard by recapping how it looks from the team members’ point of view. Indicate that you understand what the people are going through. You know that times are tough, and circumstances are particularly difficult. Like Bill Clinton, you can feel their pain. This step is a cliché because it’s true, and it works. People calm down when they can tell their story and know that it’s heard.

Step2: Offer support. Demonstrate commitment to lending a helping hand if the situation gets worse. Strategize with team members about what might be done to remove obstacles, while avoiding the temptation to jump in to do it yourself. Suggest one action that you might take to help if they need it. Empower them by backing them up — they can do what they think needs to be done, knowing that they have your support. Sometimes they will take you up on an offer to intercede, but often they will hold the offer in reserve.

Step3: Invoke higher principles. Why are we doing this in the first place? In the heat of the moment, the only thing that seems to matter is the details that are plaguing people — often operational matters that seem like bureaucratic nuisances, like getting a form signed or meeting details nailed down. The swarming alligators make you forget that the goal was to drain the swamp. They’re tough to handle, distracting, and not very inspiring. To get perspective, zoom out to remind people of the vision, purpose, and principles that make the frustrations worth enduring. Lifting eyes to the prize can smooth tensions and inspire renewed effort.

Listen, support, and uplift. These steps are good practice even when times are not tense. When people feel understood, empowered, and guided by higher goals, tensions are defused and momentum restored.

i have handled very dangerous strike in gold mine with dangerous labors with guns , but how handled that its long story start with communication and to communicate with them with same language and mindset , and start to identify the revokers or who have big effect in the other groups and start to make replacement plan and same time start to negotiate and start to make difference between each group needs and then give each benefit should the employee in other hand give commitment , that is the summary

Tense situations are very easy to handle if you go to the crux of the problem. Solve that and you resolve the tense situation.

I put the beginning of a short-term plan to resolve this tension

Then we begin to examine the causes of the tension at the same time and work to find radical solutions to them in a specific time plan

if I have tense through the work , first I try to cool down

then put small plan to solve the problem  

I fully agree with the answers been added by EXPERTS..............................Thanks

Avoid the words "calm down and take it easy"just smile and patient to say everthing will be okay and can find way to manage.

I have been an officer in Central Government Department of India for the last twenty four years as already submitted in my resume.Here the environment is free from any friction and hassle.Every office senior or junior has a defined nature of work.The assignment of task to heirarchy is also smooth one.The nature of urgency itself call for appropriate action on the part of the officer.All employees and officer work in a discplined manner.This is in respect of non sensitive nature of job.

In the field work when the job is of sensitive nature involving interaction with trade and industry presence of mind,patience and soft words have been the best ways for me to achieve the goal.

Tens comes when we think and worry about the circumstances unnecessarily. Our mind doesn’t function properly. In that specific situation, I just control my breath and I convince myself that tens is part of our life and there is no human beings in the world who are not suffering from tens.

When I think that whatever I see around me is just an illusions and tomorrow we all are going to die and it is the universal truth and hence I am fully able to face with every problems which could generate lots of tens.    

Now days employees facing lots of pressure not only on work place in personal life, resultant problem like insecurity in life and loss of analytical power that count small changes in system as tsunami by unions, individuals and groups .

In earlier days of my carrier I was posted in old plant situated in remote area, on the5th day of my job a receive a call from security office of factory that all the seniors staff came out from the factory and stop the work . When I reach there with my seniors then I come to know that company is now implementing ERP  and fully computerized system , most of the employees there is employees those have very old association with the company life15-20 year or more  this rumour was there that company want to implement new system and for that company will gradually remove old employees because they cannot use to with new system second and major problem is that old employee start believing new system is implemented because new management do not have trust on employees .

Being employee relation office I was assigned to implement new system within6-8 month because I implemented same system in another plant (which is new established plant).

1.       Upgrade employee trust in new management- I setup my office in factory so that every employee can come to me at any time, I start explaining policy and procedures so that confusion and insecurity removed. After every gathering I ask them for feedback  

2.       Introduction of new system- When individual and group start feeling that they are the part of system. We started section to explain the new ERP system by comparing with present system so that they can get the point that this new system will reduce their paper work and increase the control on system. After every section we ask individual feedback

Warm Regards

Anurag