Old, Hairy Festering Conflict – Avoid It at All Costs

You are here because you want to grow as a leader.?

And maybe you have a team that you need to grow too.?

Are you technically expert at what you do but you want more, and you know that It’s not enough just to be good at what you do????

You now need to create the superpowers of communication, impact and influence in order to maximise your outcomes as a leader.?

You need to be able to talk business, not just tech.

You need to be able to communicate at all levels and be a positive influence in the business.?

You need to be able to bring your team on board and create outstanding performance.?

You need to be able to think strategically, not just down in the weeds of the expertise you have.?

And we already know that what got you here won’t get you there.?

All those years honing your technical expertise made you what you are now.?But it won’t take you to the next level.?

You need to take on new approaches, new techniques and understanding about your team, about you, and about how you fit into the organisation as a whole.?

The Growing Leaders in Business Newsletter focuses on these tools and techniques in a practical and informal way, so you can digest and implement bite sized pieces to upgrade your skills.?

The three essential areas for high performing leaders to master are to create confidence, collaboration and commitment in your teams, peers and investors, and to be able to engage, enable and excite them into coming with you on your journey.??

Each week we focus on different aspects to help you to create these superpowers.

This week we're looking at avoiding conflict...

Whether it be resistance to your programme, your idea, or way of doing something, or it be a full conflict between people in your team (or even with you), then you have a problem.?

Nothing gets done when there is a problem within the team, or pushback from those unhappy people inside the environment you have created.?

And here’s the thing – YOU have to deal with it, even if you didn’t start it! (Bummer ??)

Because if you don’t, it gets old and hairy, and smelly, festering and uncomfortable.?

And it doesn’t ever go away in the way we hope it will, and it only grows like a snowball rolling down a mountain slope.??

And because of this fact, the cost of Conflict in business is massive.

The problem is that we don’t always know how to deal with it, without making it worse, causing a war between disagreeing parties, or just ending up with passive aggressive stubbornness in the workplace, where change is almost impossible and projects go over budget, over time and outcomes are not what we hoped.?

And when we stick our head in the sand, hoping that people will come to their senses, we are really fooling ourselves and don’t realise that it’s impossible to move forward like this.?

A report for ACAS1 by Professor Richard Saundry and Professor Peter ‘Urwin, using data from the CIPD, shows that the estimated cost of conflict is ￡28.5billion a year.

It summarises that 10 million people experience conflict at work each year, costing equivalent of ￡1000 per person on average.?

But, as costs can appear low to start with, we often tend to leave things and not deal with the issues.? And when not dealt with, this is where the exponential costs appear.?

Whether that be because the employee leaves (resigns or other) or whether it is down to the loss of productivity and results, the extra sick leave, stress management or other add on costs, it just gets worse and worse the longer nothing is done.?

The report goes on to say that the costs are often 3 times the informal resolution, if they go to formal procedures.?

And this is why we need to make conflict our friend.

We need the skills to deal with disagreement openly.? We need to speak about how we feel and how others make us feel instead of bottling it up and letting it fester.

We need to say when we are not happy, and we need to listen and look for the clues when others are not feeling happy in the workplace.?

Whether that is because of a change we have initiated, or it’s between colleagues or with us, we need to listen and understand how to resolve the issues that this brings.?

I have seen responses such as telling people to pull their socks up and stop moaning, gaslighting others into thinking they are the problem, and just plain ignoring.? These strategies are poison to the resolution of conflict and unrest and are likely to prevent change and the acceptance of it.??

As leaders we need to develop the empathy and understanding, the respect and curious approach that enables people to open up, tell us what they need, what they want and why, so we can create meaningful conversation and come up with win-win resolutions for all.?

It needs us to pull our ego back a bit, to be vulnerable, but most of all, to put aside trying to win, and look at the bigger picture.

And that takes a bit of effort and some skills that need a bit of practice.

But, when you do, you find that your impact as a leader grow exponentially too.??

You gain respect, collaboration with your ideas, an easier, happier working life, and better results.??

So, it’s worth the extra effort to gain the skills to be able to stop the rot.

And, if it fills you with dread, just hearing that you need to do this, then give me a shout, because one of the modules of our impact accelerator is exactly this – dealing with conflict positively and confidently.?

So, if you want to step into your Superpowers, then get in touch and we can make sure you have the skills, confidence and approach to get your teams on point and focused on the task, not the elephant in the room.??

Email me at [email protected] to find out how you can join.

1. Source: ACAS article, 11 May 2021, Catriona Smith, Head of Research, Analysis and Insight; Estimating the costs of workplace conflict

You can watch a short 15-min live I did on this subject today here.

Julie.?

Julie "Chief Impact Engineer" Hutchison

Email: [email protected]

P.S.?Whenever you are ready...here are 4 ways I can help you increase your impact as a leader:

1. Join The "Quiet Leaders Lab? Facebook Group and?connect with other leaders who want to grow

It's our Facebook community where those that are The Quiet Leaders can learn and share how to increase their impact, influence and outcomes –?Click here

2. Grab a free copy of my leadership impact report: The Team Performance Engine?

It’s the Road Map to your journey to increasing your impact as a leader -?Click here

3. Join our Leaders Launchpad??Mastermind Group Programme

This Mastermind is a selected group of like-minded leaders,?in an online community, focused on growing your results.??With training, group coaching calls, guest speakers and more, supporting?and challenging you to design?and implement real team performance in your business.

Send me a message or email [email protected] with "IMPLEMENT" in the subject line and we can discuss how you can join us

4. Work with me and my team privately

If you or your team just need a little more one to one attention to make change happen in your business... just message and put "PRIVATE"?in the subject line... tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!