Every week I read numerous email newsletters published by a variety of business consultants, trainers, life coaches and other professionals working with human capital. I subscribed to most after visiting their websites and being promised weekly or monthly mailings replete with the very latest tips and cutting-edge strategies relevant to the writer’s particular field of expertise. (Often, as an additional incentive to subscribe, I’m offered a free “special report” or white paper - comprising information easily obtainable elsewhere!)
Unfortunately, to put it bluntly, most of these self-serving and heavily promotional e-publications fail to deliver the goods.
One of the relatively few exceptions is written by trainer Shaun Belding. Shaun’s regular Winning at Work mailings – as brief as they are – do deliver the goods. His publication offers “techniques and tools for dealing Coworkers, Bosses, Callers, Customers and Clients” and excels in showing us how to handle difficult people in each of these categories.
| The conflict has less to do with the idea and more with the way it is presented |
Disagreements among colleagues in the workplace are the subject of the latest issue. Differences of opinion among people working towards a common goal are not only inevitable but healthy. After all, sharing and examining different ideas and contrasting viewpoints leads to progress and growth. What is certainly not desirable is the unnecessary acrimony and conflict that is often an offshoot of such debates.
As Shaun Belding points out, what creates the conflict has less to do with the idea and more with the way it is presented. He presents us with two useful techniques for minimizing the potential for conflict when offering a different opinion:
I think in this case…
This technique involves first validating the premise behind the other person’s assertion, then offering a new or different perspective that leads to a different conclusion. For example:
Sally: I think we need to have a full team meeting for an hour every Monday and Wednesday morning.
Bob: (validating) That makes sense. The more frequently we communicate, the less likely we’ll have issues like the ones that cropped up in the last project. (new perspective) I think in this case we have a challenge with availability. Not everyone is in the office every Monday and Wednesday. Perhaps we should just say we’ll meet twice a week, and on the Friday before set mutually convenient meeting times.
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