1-Minute Wednesday No. 131: The Most Essential Minute of Your Week Online

Constructive Controversy

What comes to mind when you think of an effective work environment?

Maybe your list includes some of the following:

• Good communication
• Common goals?
• Mutual respect?
• Motivated team members

But there’s one thing that probably didn’t make your list - conflict. Yet conflict, at least the right kind of conflict, is a critical ingredient in the highest performing teams?(1).?

Too often, we let conflict lurk below the surface. Instead of a productive?force that makes us challenge our ideas and find better solutions, it becomes an opposing force, disrupting teams, causing resentment, and stifling progress.?

So how do leaders cultivate what researchers call?“constructive controversy”??(1)

Amy Gallo, author of the new book?Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)?and recent guest on?The Greg McKeown Podcast, offers a few ideas.

• Make it okay to speak up.?Explain that staying silent when you disagree is not only doing yourself a disservice but also the team. Make it clear it’s okay if you don't?always see eye to eye.
• Pay attention to what’s happening.?Any changes to culture can make people uneasy,?so pay attention to how people respond. Watch their facial expressions and body language. Find trusted advisors and people below you who can give you feedback.
• State your intention upfront.?Being challenged, especially by a leader, can be intimidating.?Before entering a tough negotiation with an employee, or facilitating a meeting between teams that are having trouble, make clear your intention: My intention with this meeting is to do X. My intention is not to do Y.

There is no such thing as a conflict-free relationship. So instead of allowing conflict to stay beneath the surface, harness the power of constructive controversy and help your teams and relationships reach new heights.?

(1)?Johnson, D., Johnson, R. and Tjosvold, D. (2012). Constructive controversy: The value of intellectual opposition. The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice.

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Listen

The Greg McKeown Podcast

“What I want to say to you is that there is hope, that it’s not too late...that gap between our current regret and this future regret, there’s space to change that.”?

Most of us have learned that we are supposed to live life with no regrets, but this is wrong. We know now that regrets can produce the precise data we need to construct a meaningful, rich, essential life. Tune in to this week’s episode to discover how you can use regret to design your most essential life.?

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Learn

How to Navigate Conflict with a Coworker

We all deal with interpersonal conflict in the workplace, but getting caught up in these types of disputes has numerous adverse results. But what if we could make work relationships easier and use our conflict to help us reach better solutions? Check out these seven tips from Amy Gallo on handling personal conflict in the workplace.?Read the article here.?

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Weekly Wisdom

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't being said. The art of reading between the lines is a lifelong quest of the wise.”?― Shannon L. Alder

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