How to Handle Conflict Between Team Members Without Becoming the Referee

An employee knocks on your office door. They step inside, close the door behind them, and immediately launch into a bitter complaint about a fellow team member. They tell you that a senior technician spoke to them disrespectfully, or that the dispatcher assigned them an unfair route. You listen carefully. You feel a familiar, exhausting tension rise in your chest. You promise to look into the situation and handle it. They leave the room feeling validated, but you are now trapped. You just accepted the role of the company referee. You took their emotional burden and placed it squarely onto your own shoulders.