Leading Through Conflict: Transforming Challenges into Positive Change
Conflict happens.
Conflict can be a good thing.
Conflict creates change.
All leaders will deal with conflict in multiple forms. How you react, embrace, and ultimately lead through change will impact your outcomes and ability to influence long-standing performance.
The nature of conflict is to create change. Conflict occurs when two opposing viewpoints intersect. The outcome of that will result in some type of change. As a leader, you can define that outcome and ensure it moves you forward versus sending you and your team reeling backward. Conflict can be the catalyst for jump-starting the innovation engine to move forward.
There are, of course, different types of conflict that we face. We can place these in several high-level buckets to explore further and then understand how we can lead through them.
Emotionally charged arguments
Many people think of conflict only when people are passionately disagreeing. This is a form of conflict and is probably the most challenging to manage and lead through. It also requires the swiftest response and need for resolution. It is rarely healthy to allow an emotionally charged situation to continue, both for those directly involved or those around them. You will need to engage as a leader and work with both parties to find an acceptable outcome defined on your terms, not necessarily theirs.
Different opinions and thinking
Non-emotionally based discussions that are productive are the better types of conflict to have. These can result in idea evolution. It ensures that all aspects of the idea or process are being explored from multiple perspectives. As a leader, you want to encourage this type of behavior and engagement. Having the same opinions in every discussion will not lead to innovative ideas.
I have always encouraged team members to have these types of discussions. I have even gone so far as to request someone on the team to debate a position that is opposite to what they may believe. This ensures that we are talking through several different points of view. As a leader, you do not want everyone on your team to think exactly the same. You may need to take an opposing point of view to stir the debate and flush out additional ideas or concerns that may exist.
Change management and radical thinking
Suggesting change or radical new ways of thinking can also cause conflict. This is usually created by a lack of understanding or fear of the change it will create. Both are natural responses to a stimulus that will create change to the current norms. This type of conflict can also be very healthy for an organization, but it can run the risk of quickly moving to an emotionally charged argument. When people begin to feel concerned about their well-being, current status, or comfort levels, they can take a very defensive stance. In these types of conflicts, it is important to facilitate the discussion to ensure everyone understands what is being presented and that it may not have the dire consequences that some are assuming. Work through removing any assumptions and concerns along the way, versus waiting until the end to see how it turns out. Those pauses for discussion should lead to a more productive and growth-oriented outcome.
Situational Leadership wins the day
There are many similarities between each of the categories of conflict discussed above, and how you lead through each can ensure you end with positive outcomes. Because conflict inherently involves people, the approach you take will be situational. You are managing both the people involved as well as the nature of the conflict. Situational leadership takes into account the people and the circumstances involved to ensure you are providing the information, feedback, and coaching needed at the moment.
When you find yourself leading through conflicts where different opinions are involved, or divergent thinking is taking place, you likely do not want to jump in, and solve that situation. When good dialogue is occurring, even passionate discussion, that is a healthy, growth-oriented conflict that you want to encourage. It is only when the discussion may become unproductive and devolve into an emotionally charged argument where it is getting personal should you jump in.
When you find yourself in those situations, there are many steps you can take to help find a quick resolution to them. These can work whether they began out of a healthy discussion or whether it was just two people not getting along. 7 Conflict Resolution Skills (and How To Use Them at Work) and How successful leaders manage conflict are both excellent articles. You can reference both for ideas on how to manage through the more disruptive conflict situations and steer everyone back to a productive work relationship and environment.
Outcomes
When leading through any conflict, you, as the leader, must define what the acceptable outcomes might be. The only unacceptable outcome is that the conflict itself goes unresolved or worse, unaddressed. The hope is always that you can facilitate the discussion to lead to consensus and even agreement. But you will have to accept that one potential, and reasonable outcome will be the need for one person to depart from their opposing viewpoint.
When conflict is appropriately managed and embraced, it will lead to new outcomes. In most cases, those outcomes will be positive. There is always learning that comes from adjustments and changes. Both the outcome and results may lead to further conflict requiring more discussion and a push for additional change to improve. It is a positive self-reinforcing cycle that will keep the energy levels high and reduce the likelihood that you will get stuck in the mud of status quo.
How can you apply the ideas above to a conflict situation you face?
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