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Often times in life, we look to replicate the idyllic environment of fairy tale lore, where everyone is happy with everyone, no one has any worries or stressors, and thus conflict is non existent.<\/p>\nOften times in life, we look to replicate the idyllic environment of fairy tale lore, where everyone is happy with everyone, no one has any worries or stressors, and thus conflict is non existent.<\/p>\n
This is far removed from reality, and indeed from life in a normal, thriving work environment, and thus it might be worth our while to redefine a good working environment to expect and even embrace a certain amount of conflict.<\/p>\n
Conflict, as we learn, can be both horizontal \u2013 between colleagues on the same level \u2013 or vertical \u2013 between people of different ranks within the organization.
\nAdditionally, conflict occurs for a variety of reasons, one of which is the topic of our discussion today, because of the difference in the manner and process of achieving company goals.<\/p>\n
Working towards a goal \u2013 particularly to the attainment of one that is new and unprecedented \u2013 can create unforeseen problems and relationship dynamics in an organization. The degree of difficulty of the goal can often create a parallel in the degree of conflict experienced in achieving that goal, if the process is not managed properly. Often times, it pays to take time to clarify and sell the goal to all team members in order to put them in the right frame of mind when conflict arises.<\/p>\n
If the overarching focus is on accomplishing the goal, there are some key attitudes that will help to navigate conflict when it arises:
\n1.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Accepting constructive criticism will be a little easier on team members who would have recognized the inextricable link between their behavior and the accomplishment of the goal.
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0There will be a concerted, sincere effort to change behavior when conflict arises vertically or horizontally. Managers (who do not know everything, by the way), will actually be more open to changing their policies, behavior or attitudes subsuming their desire to save face under the desire to accomplish something bigger.
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0If supervisors or managers maintain the focus on the goal, team members will better see the error of their ways as hindering the furtherance of the goal, instead of progressing it.<\/p>\n
One of the ways in which a team can ensure a quicker route to accomplishing a goal, particularly when trying to pioneer a product or service, is, in the initial stages, to have frequent meetings where team members at all levels get to critique the progress of the goal in general, and team members\u2019 performance. While conflicts might arise, keeping the focus on the goal will put everything in perspective. However, such meetings only make sense if definitive action is promptly taken to address concerns raised. Then the entire team remains energized and motivated.<\/p>\n
Lisa Dublin is the Director of OSSi, a six year old training company that facilitates presentations, seminars and workshops in effective public speaking, customer service excellence, employee motivation and excellence in the workplace, career guidance, business etiquette and image management. If you do have a comment on today\u2019s article, drop us a line at OSSi: ossitrainingnow@gmail.com.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Often times in life, we look to replicate the idyllic environment of fairy tale lore, where everyone is happy with everyone, no one has any worries or stressors, and thus conflict is non existent. This is far removed from reality,…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n