Conflict in the Workplace

by Kathy Cooperman

Conflict is everywhere! We can’t escape it. We experience it daily. We should be masters at handling conflict since it’s been part of our lives from the day we were born!

When conflict shows up at work, people react to it. As a leader, it’s important that you recognize and manage conflict appropriately.

Test your knowledge
In the conflict workshops I conduct, I pose a number of true-false questions to participants. Here is a sampling of those questions:

1. Truly effective teams experience little or no conflict. (True or false?)
2. Regardless of age, education, socioeconomic background or culture, people everywhere prefer to avoid conflict. (True or false?)
3. The best leaders make it clear that conflict will not be tolerated in the workplace. (True or false?)

How did you do? The correct answer to all three questions is false.
1. According to Patrick Lencioni, author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” conflict is healthy when it focuses on ideas (not people). Conflict, built on trust, helps team members engage in “unfiltered, constructive debate.”

Simply said, you should encourage conflict at work. As long as it remains respectful and team members are offering different opinions or ideas, then conflict can be a great catalyst for creativity and innovation. Knowing when conflict is productive — and not destructive — is key.

Productive conflict behaviors
• Listening to all ideas without interrupting
• Playing “devil’s advocate”
• Offering new ideas (break from status quo)
Destructive conflict behaviors
• Raising voice or yelling
• Criticizing a person, not an idea
• Voicing negative statements (“That will never work.”)

Kathy Cooperman, an executive coach and leadership expert, is the president and founder of KC Leadership Consulting LLC. For more information, contact her at kathy@kathycooperman.com, www.kathycooperman.com or 720.542.3324.