Develop conflict management as a core competency for top executive teams.
THE JOURNEY FROM MERE ALIGNMENT TO HIGH PERFORMANCE
The responses and subsequent full-group discussion sent a seismic shock wave through the team. Members realized they would need to work hard to progress from alignment to high performance. Key to this journey would be learning to turn conflict avoidance into conflict management.
The team made the transition successfully. In the process, it developed a new operating charter that dealt head-on with conflict. It captured the good work that the team had done in examining its behavior, but went way beyond it to add the following five core elements:
1. Reframing the inner conversation about change
Many executives believe that conflict is the social equivalent of original sin. But conflict can be an opportunity to put issues on the table and work toward change.
The healthcare team members discovered they had been more focused on accommodating their leader than bringing about change. When they reframed conflict as neutral—neither inherently good nor bad—they became comfortable with the discomfort that accompanies conflict.
2. Establishing protocols for confrontation and conflict
The team developed “rules of engagement” to govern disagreements and ensure the integrity of business relationships. One protocol they adopted was “no triangulation”—if there’s a disagreement with another team member, address it directly, without recruiting supporters.
3. Depersonalizing feedback
The team learned to treat feedback as part of a business case, focusing on job performance and observable behavior rather than personal feelings. This shift reduced defensiveness and improved constructive dialogue.
4. Rescripting “going-in stories”
Team members learned to challenge their assumptions and perceptions, testing them with input from colleagues to open up discussions and explore new perspectives.
5. Continuing the revolution
The team committed to an ongoing process of candid feedback exchanges, using bi-monthly meetings for “perception exchanges” to confront disconnects and foster continuous improvement.
PERCEPTION EXCHANGES
Among the questions raised were the following:
How do I think I’ve been viewed, and how do I want to be viewed?
What did I do vis-à-vis the team that may have gotten in the way of high performance?
What must I do going forward to add greater value?
Whom on the team must I connect with to address an issue or strengthen a relationship?
Feedback is quick and specific. Posturing is not treated kindly. The attitude is:“Let’s be brutally candid, yet supportive.”
END NOTE
By acquiring the ability to effectively manage conflict, the healthcare team became a leadership team in fact, not just in title. While a new general manager has yet to be appointed, the team is successfully running the business and enjoying the process.
If a new leader is brought in, the team is confident in its ability to integrate them into the conflict-management process, ensuring alignment and high performance.
Mark Landsberg is a senior consultant with Guttman Development Strategies, a Ledgewood, New Jersey-based consulting firm specializing in building high-performance organizations through strategic alignment and conflict management. He can be contacted at: Markland@Covad.Net
MWorld Fall 2003 | American Management Association