Conflict Resolution
[gallery ids="1751,1752,1753,1754,1755,1756,1757,1758" type="square" link="none" orderby="rand"]
FountainBlue's July 14 When She Speaks event, on the topic of Resolving Conflict When the Stakes are High. Below are notes from the conversation.
We were fortunate to have such a fun, experienced and practical group of panelists, representing a wide range of companies, projects, educational backgrounds and perspectives. They also shared much in common: their competence and leadership got them noticed by important people, their successes and results facilitated introductions to larger-impact opportunities, their passion and leadership helped them serve their team, product, company and industry, and their practical experience made them the wise leaders they are.
They deal with a wide range of conflicts:
the engineering vs business unit conflicts which pit developers against business unit managers and sales and marketing leaders;
the finance vs product vs operations vs sales/marketing conflicts around costs, timelines and deliverables;
the management vs staff conflicts around the strategic direction and how and when it is implemented;
the merger-mergee integration conflicts which come with all M&As;
the generational conflicts across age groups;
the cultural conflicts across geographies, and/or cultural conflicts within the same physical geography;
the personal conflicts at home, the personal conflicts brought into work . . .
Conflicts are everywhere. Below is a compilation of advice for resolving conflict.
Accepting Conflict within Companies
Accepting this fact, and embracing the learnings and opportunities around conflict resolution is the first step to positive, constructive conflict management.
Align to corporate goals and missions.
Assume positive intent.
Embrace the opportunities to learn from others not-like-you, to experience things beyond your comfort zone.
Choose your battles - not all conflicts are worth having.
Being Fact-Based
Make decisions based on data - what are the pros and cons for all stakeholders? Identify the factors for each decision. Have each stakeholder give weightings for the importance of each factor.
Quantify the inefficiencies rather than pointing a figure at who is causing the inefficiencies.
Focus on areas of compromise.
Collaborate with stakeholders to deliver tangible win-win results.
Managing Emotions
Make everyone feel recognized and important. Encourage and support their engagement.
Stay away from personal attacks and judgments.
Know and manage your own hot buttons.
Give yourself and others a cooling-off period when emotions run high.
Give the object of contention a time out, so no parties get access.
Managing People and Networks
Be curious about motivations.
Identify all stakeholders.
Understand the other perspective.
Build networks of relationships you can trust.
It is more important to respect the feelings of the other party then to be 'right'.
Be a great listener.
Lobby for buy-in, rather than mandating it.
Stand behind your team/product/company, and do all you can to help it succeed.
Communicating Clearly
Communicate clearly and transparent and directly, especially when things are not going well.
Try this formula for gender (or other) conflicts: 1) Call attention to the behavior. 2) Associate a feeling with the behavior. 3) Request an alternate behavior. 4) Check for understanding and commitment.
Spell out assumptions.
Spell out boundaries for discussion.
The steps to resolving conflict can be summarized in 5 steps: First gather the data. Next recognize the motivations and feelings of all stakeholders. Then deliver measurable results and lastly communicate successes.
Resource: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
FountainBlue's July 14 When She Speaks event, on the topic of Resolving Conflict When the Stakes are High. Please join me in thanking our gracious hosts at NVIDIA and our panelists!
Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue, CMO, 888 Steps
Panelist Vicki Sam, Chief of Staff/VP, EFI
Panelist Joy Taylor, General Manager, Product Line Director, Texas Instruments
Panelist Prajakta “PJ” Gudadhe, Director Software for Consumer Products, Virtual Reality and Mobile, NVIDIA
Panelist Liming Wang, Sr. Director, Manufacturing Finance, Western Digital