Conflict resolution
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Conflict resolution
Partnerships and relationships do not always run smoothly. In all relationships, each party must represent their own interests as well as the interests of the relationship. So when another person begins to act self-interested, that is not a fault. It is normal for both parties.[We will discuss the specific partnership relationship of the workplace between employer and employee. However, the concepts apply to all conflict resolution situations.]
We can assume that both want the same objective – in this case, the success of the company. In private companies, this is usually for the company to make money now and into the future. Even the acknowledgment that each party has a common objective can be a breakthrough in conflict resolution.
Each party is usually striving to achieve the objective in their own way. When each does that, they often make assumptions that their way is the `right' (and often the `only') way to go about it. As well as make assumptions about the other party, their motivations and the rights or wrongs of their approach.
Goldratt suggests that the way to break the conflict is to challenge those assumptions. In Principle 5 (`Improved Decisions'), we presented Goldratt's model to identify the conflict and to break it. To reiterate. The conflict can almost always be described in terms of the following diagram.
You should read it like
this: "In order to have v, they must iii. On the other hand, in
order to v, I must iv. Next, in order to iii, they must i. But in order
to iv, I must ii. The conflict should be clear. And no compromise possible."
Uncover the assumptions. Read the diagram again. This time, add the word `because' and answer the implied question, as follows: "in order to have v, I must iv because...?", etc - do all five arrows, including, "i is mutually exclusive to ii because...?". The list of things you get when you ask "because" for each arrow are your assumptions. There is often more than one assumption per arrow. Find as many as you need.
Examine the assumptions. Can you break an arrow by finding something to destroy the assumption? Is there an assumption that is nonsense? Some useful hints are:
- Concentrate on the arrow with the assumptions that irritate you most.
- Find a solution at the iii, iv level. Do not argue at the i, ii level.
- For each assumption ask, "is there another result?" Keep challenging the implications of the assumptions. You are looking for a thinking shift.
Often when you go through this process, the futility of the assumptions that you (or the other person) are making jumps out. Often the assumptions are so ridiculous that you can discard the original conflict and begin to work on the real issues.
Often the bloody-mindedness that we see in employee-management negotiation is because the employees assume that the bosses do not care and the bosses assume that the employees have stopped volunteering.
A major cause of employees withdrawing their enthusiasm, creativity and resourcefulness is due to such conflicts. Especially when known dissatisfiers are not addressed or when bosses appear to be acting in their own best interest rather than the best interest of the company.
Zapp! and Heroz
In their two books, Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment and Heroz, Byham and Cox give an excellent presentation of how to implement the thinking of Principle 7. Both are set as novels about a workplace. Zapp is the lightning people feel that creates enthusiastic employees who volunteer their creativity. Sapp is its opposite. Byham and Cox describe it as being wrapped up in mummy tape or working in a green fog. Both books are in out recomended reading list. When you have been Zapped, you feel like:- Your job belongs to you
- You are responsible
- Your job counts for something
- You know where you stand
- You have some say in how things are done
- Your job is part of who you are
- You have some control over your work.
- Responsibility
- Knowing why you are important to the company
- Trust
- Flexible controls
- Being listened to
- Direction (clear key result areas, measurement, targets)
- Being part of a team
- Knowledge (skills, training, information, targets)
- Solving problems
- Support (approval, coaching, feedback, encouragement)
- Praise
- Resources readily available
- Recognition of ideas
- Upward & downward communications
- Direction (key result areas, targets, goals, measurements)
- Knowledge (skills, training, information)
- Resources (tools, materials, facilities, money)
- Support (approval, coaching, feedback, encouragement)
- To create an environment where Zapp can happen
- To protect people from the Sapping things that the company might attempt to put upon them; while at the same time supporting and encouraging the Zapping things the company can offer
- To be sure that subordinate managers have the skills required to Zapp (and if they don't, get them trained)
- To model Zapp
- To coach subordinate managers in how to use and improve their Zapp skills
- To reward performance resulting from Zapp
- Maintain or increase self-esteem
- Listen and respond with empathy
- Ask for help in solving problems and encourage involvement
- Offer help without taking responsibility for action is the soul of Zapp!
- Learning more about the job
- Give the team a say in who works on the team
- Establish a mission for the team
- Provide time and places for the team to meet
- Provide technical training at "the teachable moment"
- Provide `people' skills for interacting, solving problems, making decisions and taking action
- People learn more from success than from failures
- Explain purpose & importance of what you are trying to teach
- Explain the process to be used
- Show how it is done
- Observe while the person practices the process
- Provide immediate & specific feedback (coach again or reinforce success)
- Express confidence in the person's ability to be successful
- Agree on follow-up actions
- A boss who over-controls Sapps his or her people
- A boss who abandons controls Sapps his people
- A boss who uses situational control Zapps his people
- People only respond negatively to controls when they are inappropriate for the situation.
- Sharing responsibility with people does not mean abandoning responsibility. Through Zapp, people gain responsibility in their individual jobs, but managers still have responsibility to:
- Know what is going on
- Set the direction for the department
- Make the decisions they can't
- Ensure that people are on course
- Offer a guiding hand: open doors to clear the way
- Assess performance
- Be a smart manager