When egos clash at work

Gossip mills can’t seem to get over Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover’s reported fight that erupted when they were flying back post show with their team to Delhi from Australia. Things turned sour between the duo, who are known to leave the audience in splits with their comic timing, when Kapil allegedly got drunk and belittled Sunil and also physically assaulted him, only to apologise to him on Twitter much later.

However, this isn’t the first time that the two have fought and made their spat public. Rumour mills are abuzz that Sunil will now be quitting the show. Mediating a conflict in a professional set-up is a challenge akin to tightrope walking. But it’s a challenge that comes in every profession and must be dealt with logically. Psychologist and relationship advisor Kinjal Pandya feels that conflicts usually arise when success gets to the head of an individual. “When two people in a creative set-up work together, it is common for an individual to feel over-confident, and this leads to ego clashes. There is no sense of modesty, but only superiority. That’s when they start putting their colleagues or subordinates down,” she shares.

When people put all their work aside, and let the conflict take the centre-stage, it only leads to further meltdowns, feels life-coach Khyati Birla, “One often needs to understand that they are humans, and they can’t be behaving like animals, who react at minute provocations. Being human means being diplomatic and to understand what the need of the hour is. If you make ego and anger the focus, problems will remain unsolved till the very end,” she says.  

Making the spat public and involving other co-workers is never a good idea, considering the atmosphere could be highly tensed post the fall-out, “It is important to understand that co-workers won’t be in a position to pick sides, and no matter how selfish it may sound, they’ll  talk in favour of the person who pays them the cheque in the end. It is best to not ask them to get involved and stay neutral,” Kinjal adds.

Communication is the key to resolve the issue. However, one must also keep the final result in mind before going ahead with the task, “Decide whether you still want to co-work and co-exist together. And if the answer is yes, then work backwards to solve the problem keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is getting back together and no ego is superior than the partnership,” Khyati adds.