Managing Conflict

Conflict... It's a fact of life, we see it everywhere. People sometimes don't agree. This doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. But as a Young Leader, you need to know how to manage conflict to keep problems from spiraling out of control.

I was actually caught in a situation where I had some pretty heated conflict with a professor. But by making use of a third party mediator (my academic advisor - who just so happened to be the head of the department), we were able to resolve the conflict. In fact, in my college years following that conflict, I was able to form a strong relationship with that professor.

We probably all heard of the old adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." In this case, I would definitely say preventing conflict and avoiding the headaches associated with them is well worth the effort.

So how can we minimize conflict?

• One way would be to maintain an environment of trust. If you as the leader show that you trust your team members, they will learn to trust each other. And when people trust each other, they are more likely to be understanding of other needs and situations, thereby reducing conflict. Furthermore, it doesn't help to pit team mates against each other. Make sure the team remains a whole!
  
• Choose the "right" people. This is what Collins called "getting the right people on the bus". You need to make sure you have the right people on your team, before you can even get started. If you know someone really doesn't believe in the vision and doesn't seem willing to make the change, conflict is almost inevitable.
• Manage change effectively. This is a tough one, but we all know that human beings are creatures of habit. Understand this and try to make any process of change to be as comfortable or as easy as it can be. If you don't, people will resist it.

Ok, so now we have done our best to minimize conflict, but we still have some. How do we resolve it?

• First of all we need to understand the conflict. Listen to all parties involved. Give everyone the chance to talk (one-on-one conversations work the best). Also, make sure to separate "personal" issues from substantive issues. You can't force people to like each other, but you can force them to respect each other.
  
• Then take a systemic view of the conflict and think about a solution. Be open to all potential solutions, getting input from all sides. Think about the team as a whole when deciding. Also, avoid punitive discipline, because this will only breed more conflict in the future. Try to think outside of the box and win-win.
  
• After you have decided the solution, implement it. Be firm and make sure the promised changes are made. Also be available for further coaching in the future.

If only it were just that simple, but this is a start. As always comments are welcomed and appreciated. Maybe you could share a time when you had and resolved a conflict.

-Jason