Turning Conflict into Clarity: How to Make Conflicting Feedback Work for You

Hello Leaders,

Coming up with a new idea can be very invigorating – until the first comments start flooding in and it seems like the whole world wants to share their opinion.

Contradictory information is not your idea’s doom; it is the chance. It means that your team might be using different criteria when considering such an idea and this creates confusion and repudiation of possible opportunities.

Unfortunately, receiving conflicting information is still normal today – it may come from your supervisor, team members or customers/clients. Here is how you can create order out of chaos.

Step 1: It is necessary to comprehend who is to blame for starting this conflict ??

This is a situation whereby some people will give you feedback while depending on certain standards and others will give a different feedback based upon other standards. Exploring these differences can therefore assist you discover other concealed points of vulnerability and strength.

Example: Suppose for a moment that you have to sell your new client onboarding system to your colleagues. Everyone in the sales department gets very excited because it’s a very clean and simple approach, but the people in the operations department aren’t so fond of it because they’re afraid it is going to complicate things.

What to Ask

• “What is it that you are making this concept with?”
• “That was why the questions like ‘What made similar ideas succeed or fail in the future?’ or ‘What makes similar ideas succeed or fail in the past?’ are extremely significant.”
• “What could success of this idea look like?”

If you know what those reference points are, then you can make sure that you are answering certain concerns or focusing on what you think is great about the idea.

Step 2: Set Right Expectations – Performance Metrics ??

To remove confusion, inform your team how the idea will be evaluated. This is the case because shared evaluation criteria foster common ground for evaluation.

Example: Let’s imagine your idea is to implement and use a new software platform. Before presenting it to the team, you might define criteria such as:

Logistical Feasibility: In how much it is possible to implement?

Cost-Effectiveness: What is the return on investment?

Impact on Stakeholders: What will be the implications or impact of this on clients, employees or partners?

?If it’s possible, the person should share the case or reference points before the meeting or discussion. For instance, “This platform helped to cut down on on-boarding time by 30% in a similar firm. This puts the evaluators in a right-minded approach, and, at the same time, ensures they remain aligned.

Step 3: Discussions should be separated according to focus areas

Often feedback degenerates into a discussion of the various parts that make up the idea which can be its viability, cost, and effects on a society. To avoid this scenario, portion your evaluation process into focused discussions.

Example: If you’re writing a proposal for the company to enter a new market, you may:

As another action, call the marketing department to a meeting and in the meeting, talk about branding.

Undertake a separate meeting with the finance department representatives in a bid to determine the budget and then the returns.

A meeting with the operations team should be conducted to discuss with them some feasibility considerations.

Why This Works: Specifically, analysis of data collected through focused discussions also enables the evaluators to dissect issues they are more conversant with thus providing actionable and relevant feedback.

Step 4: Submitted feedbacks must then be seen as an iterative construction of meaning and refinement, a collective activity and not merely as criticism.

If people disagree with you, it does not mean that you’re wrong, it means you have something to develop. Thus, use the received feedback to build up your proposal.

Example: A startup founder proposed a new type of subscription service to their team. To some staff in the marketing department this was particularly attractive because it was very straightforward, while the finance department had a number of concerns about unpredictable revenue generation.

On the aforementioned issues like integrating tiered subscription services to steady the income, the founder was able to get support from both factions.

Mindset Shift: When it comes to feedback, don’t be defensive, be curious. Other kinds of questions involve “How would you recommend enhancing this?” or “What would alleviate your worries?. having such beneficial questions encourages knowledge sharing rather than creating separation.

Step 5: Gather Support with Pull – Find Small Victories ?

Big change is always overwhelming at first, so make sure that your idea is divided into measurable chunks in a way that ABCs are easier to accomplish. This also minimizes risk and thus creates confidence on your proposal.

Example: Initial implementation of the new workflow automation tool should be a pilot scheme for a chosen division. Take it to the next level and demonstrate its effects to prove that you need to take it continental wide.

What to Communicate:

Show how quick wins can be achieved (“Rushed paper work errors where cut by 25% in one month.”).

Explain how the concept changes as a result of critique (“Your feedback leads us to change the implementation schedule for least disruption.”).

Final Thoughts: Use Conflict as a Catalyst

Such an environment may be bewildering, but such disagreements are not adversarial in nature but rather stimulate greater exploration of the issues and more positive results. Thus it is possible to understand the sources of a conflict, define objectives more accurately, having in mind points of evaluation, and to improve ideas, having a possibility to create collective feedback.

??? Has any of you ever taken opposing opinions, and made them work in your favor? Writing down the experience is always great but it would be great to hear from you how you solved it add your experience in the comments section.

Warm regards,

Follow me on LinkedIn? Aashish Singhal

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