High-Low, Positive-Negative, Friend-Foe, Hire-Fire, Profit-Loss are divisions or opposite poles that we might often encounter in our day to day lives.  However, there is a particular polarization especially meaningful in business today … Declining business economy – inclining conflict in the workplace.  Likewise, as conflict increases, productivity decreases as does profits. As a business leader, you know what I’m talking about. Absenteeism, grievances, complaints, lawsuits, poor decision making, lost opportunities, wasted time, poor working relationships, low morale, stress, loss of employees – the list seems endless when it come to the affects of disgruntled, unhappy, quarreling employees.

When Eckerd College Leadership Development Institute (LDI) surveyed executives and managers asking about their toughest challenges, they found that the leaders’ answers focused on what LDI says is “the heart of emotional intelligence: conflict management.”  The emotionality of conflict was a main reason sited for the challenge. Granted, emotions can be difficult to handle and yet, handling the emotional aspect of conflict is necessary and key to being an effective leader.

Leaders are only as effective (or ineffective, another polarization) as the character and competencies they possess. Accordingly, conflict competency needs to be part of a leader’s repertoire. If you are not comfortable with personal conflict, you won’t be good at managing it among your staff. 

Conflict competent leaders understand the sequence of interpersonal conflict, view it as an opportunity, are aware of their own conflict management style, strengths and weakness, and model constructive responses and behaviors. On the surface this may appear obvious, however, on average a typical manager spends 25-40% of his/her time dealing with workplace conflict. That strikes me as a big discrepancy between the obvious and the facts. Here’s another fact: conflict is found in every workplace and during times of recession is dramatically increased.

Conflict can’t be ignored! It’s too costly! Yet, it’s often mismanaged due to lack of skill, knowledge, and resources.  If you were to rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your conflict management competency? Be honest because self-awareness is the means to change and improvement. If your score is less than eight, then you’re spending too much time and money trying to manage difficult people. The good new is that among the menu of solutions are leadership trainings, education, skill development and conflict resolution coaching. Conflict resolution coaching is a relatively new modality that is reaching out into organizations to go beyond the customary practices of conflict management. It is a structured and individualized coaching process that teaches participants to employ approaches, techniques, and behaviors that enable successful engagement in and management of interpersonal conflict.

More polarities to associate with your organization are Life-Death and Win-Lose. You might be saying those are strong words. And, yes, they are. The bottom line is that as a leader of your company, you get to choose which end of the spectrum you want to be.  I agree with the article in this newsletter, Action Born of Acceptance, companies aren’t in business to survive. They’re in business to thrive. This time of recession is a great time to take stock of what’s going on in your company, to pay attention to the morale of your employees, to adjust to what is, to educate, to develop, to “pack your mental suitcase,” and to move forward. Stop or Go – your choice!