Hawaii Business Magazine, April 7, 2020
Is your organization underperforming due to unproductive conflict? If you said yes, you are not alone. Entrepreneur.com reports that the cost of unproductive conflict equals $359 billion in the United States. Productive conflict is an untapped opportunity to enhance your bottom line.
Imagine a workplace where people are passionate, debate ideas, learn from each other’s perspectives, and embrace healthy conflict. The possibilities are endless. As a leader, create a culture of healthy conflict by adopting three personal practices:
- Spot your negative automatic thoughts
- Reframe your negative automatic thoughts
- Choose productive behaviors
Let’s break it down.
Step 1.
Spot your negative automatic thought that leads to unproductive conflict – “That was the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard.”
Step 2.
Reframe your negative automatic thought – “That’s a different approach. I’ve never thought about it that way.” If you do not reframe your negative automatic thought, it will lead to destructive behaviors such as overpowering others, gossiping, caving in, finger-pointing, hypercriticism, passive-aggressiveness, stonewalling, etc.
Step 3.
Choose a productive conflict behavior -”Tell me more about your idea.” Productive conflict behaviors include straightforwardness, active debate, flexibility, listening, identifying the root cause of the problem, to name a few.
Take a deeper dive into mastering productive conflict at our public workshop, “Conflict is Good!” on July 29, 2020. Click here to register. The “Conflict is Good!” workshop qualifies for ETF funding.
