Conflict Management
6 October 2011
Read by 1773 persons
Conflict is contagious.
If a manager succumbs, they become angry and aggressive. If they ignore it, it grows and affects the whole company, potentially reaching a critical point. The solution is balance.
For managers, this balance requires self-reflection.
In today’s hostile and saturated world, managers must develop this awareness, creating space for reflection, breathing exercises, behavioral exercises and simulations to prepare them for inevitable crises and conflicts.
It’s proven that techniques from Asian martial arts, Tibetan lamas, actors, and behavioral sciences develop qualities for managing people. When managers avoid this work due to busy schedules, they risk facing even more serious problems, or causing them.
In 2011, it’s crucial to understand that managing people requires a new awareness, a distance, and an openness that wasn’t present in the past economic world.
If people in the economic world are extremely stressed and saturated, the economic world and its expectations will gradually collapse. There’s an urgent need to guide managers to manage themselves first. Consulting firms should focus not just on ‘the manager facing conflict,’ ‘the manager facing crisis,’ or ‘the manager facing global challenges,’ but above all… ‘the manager facing themselves.’
Quotas and profit margins are omnipresent. But if competitiveness leads to manipulation, amorality, and aggression, it’s a real identity crisis. This, in turn, causes both internal and external conflicts.
Managing all types of conflict requires calm reflection. This won’t be achieved by frantic activity, but by a constant balance between action and distance.
This requires rediscovering valuable exercises in good conduct. Monks who eat in silence, walk to exercise their bodies, meditate, and then work meticulously, creating high-quality products: ‘human quality in behavior married to efficiency in action.’ Without joining monasteries, we can adopt this wisdom without contradicting our material activities. It’s always about balance. When it’s broken, conflict arises.
Coaching Advice from Bernard ORTEGA
Seven Steps Before a Difficult Conversation
Today’s managers know that their team’s performance depends on their well-being. They prevent conflicts and manage them quickly and efficiently.
Isolate yourself for a few minutes and breathe normally 21 times – let your thoughts come and go without attaching yourself to them.
Keep this relaxed state of mind and objectively observe the nature of the conflict.
Realize that even if you are right, it is not enough to convince the others.
Put yourself in the place of those you are meeting. Imagine their reactions to yours.
Breathe calmly again.
Factually imagine possible scenarios.
Thank yourself for this preparation and go meet your interlocutors.
Golden Rules During Meetings:
- Let others speak freely. They will feel better afterwards.
- Acknowledge and reformulate their points.
- Take time to breathe before speaking.
- Respond calmly.
Additional Tip: Ask someone to accompany you to the meeting.
Bernard ORTEGA.
Stepstone.fr
Published October 6, 2011.
If a manager succumbs, they become angry and aggressive. If they ignore it, it grows and affects the whole company, potentially reaching a critical point. The solution is balance.
For managers, this balance requires self-reflection.
In today’s hostile and saturated world, managers must develop this awareness, creating space for reflection, breathing exercises, behavioral exercises and simulations to prepare them for inevitable crises and conflicts.
It’s proven that techniques from Asian martial arts, Tibetan lamas, actors, and behavioral sciences develop qualities for managing people. When managers avoid this work due to busy schedules, they risk facing even more serious problems, or causing them.
In 2011, it’s crucial to understand that managing people requires a new awareness, a distance, and an openness that wasn’t present in the past economic world.
If people in the economic world are extremely stressed and saturated, the economic world and its expectations will gradually collapse. There’s an urgent need to guide managers to manage themselves first. Consulting firms should focus not just on ‘the manager facing conflict,’ ‘the manager facing crisis,’ or ‘the manager facing global challenges,’ but above all… ‘the manager facing themselves.’
Quotas and profit margins are omnipresent. But if competitiveness leads to manipulation, amorality, and aggression, it’s a real identity crisis. This, in turn, causes both internal and external conflicts.
Managing all types of conflict requires calm reflection. This won’t be achieved by frantic activity, but by a constant balance between action and distance.
This requires rediscovering valuable exercises in good conduct. Monks who eat in silence, walk to exercise their bodies, meditate, and then work meticulously, creating high-quality products: ‘human quality in behavior married to efficiency in action.’ Without joining monasteries, we can adopt this wisdom without contradicting our material activities. It’s always about balance. When it’s broken, conflict arises.
Coaching Advice from Bernard ORTEGA
Seven Steps Before a Difficult Conversation
Today’s managers know that their team’s performance depends on their well-being. They prevent conflicts and manage them quickly and efficiently.
Isolate yourself for a few minutes and breathe normally 21 times – let your thoughts come and go without attaching yourself to them.
Keep this relaxed state of mind and objectively observe the nature of the conflict.
Realize that even if you are right, it is not enough to convince the others.
Put yourself in the place of those you are meeting. Imagine their reactions to yours.
Breathe calmly again.
Factually imagine possible scenarios.
Thank yourself for this preparation and go meet your interlocutors.
Golden Rules During Meetings:
- Let others speak freely. They will feel better afterwards.
- Acknowledge and reformulate their points.
- Take time to breathe before speaking.
- Respond calmly.
Additional Tip: Ask someone to accompany you to the meeting.
Bernard ORTEGA.
Stepstone.fr
Published October 6, 2011.
