Unless we understand the cause of an issue, it is almost impossible to fix it.
Reasons people state for conflict
– Personality clashes
– Aptitude and capability
– Attitude and behaviours
The challenge with this belief is that it sort of makes conflict inevitable and something we are unable to fix.
Actual causes of conflict
Ambiguity around:
– Goals: What are we trying to achieve?
– Roles: Who will be contributing what to ensure we succeed?
– Procedures: How will we be getting the work done?
Collaboration and project work are set to continue dominating the nature of work in the modern workplace. This means that the room for conflict is growing and this is a huge risk factor for business.
Conflict
– causes stress
– wastes out time
– compromises our relationships
– creates disengagement
– compromises motivation
– is expensive
Eliminating conflict
– focuses our effort on reaching our full potential
– enables accomplishment
– builds healthy working relationships
– provides clarity, purpose, and direction
– makes success more likely
– saves valuable resources
– frees up time to invest in our sustained wellbeing
