Where There Are Humans There Is Conflict with Liane Davey
b'In this episode of WorkHuman Radio Todd Schnick and Mike Wood talk to Liane Davey, the Principal and founder of 3 Coze, and three-time author who helps people create productivity when there\\u2019s messy people stuff in the way. They get into what conflict means in an organization, why it\\u2019s important, and how to manage it successfully. \\nEmbracing ConflictHow does bringing your best self to work align with embracing conflict? Liane thinks that being your best self means being willing to fight for things you believe in, whether it\\u2019s your customer, a different decision, difficult relationship or situation. When we avoid things that are difficult, like conflict, we don\\u2019t feel good about ourselves.\\nProductive Conflict\\xa0 Liane talks about how trying to keep everything happy and harmonious when the reality just isn\\u2019t, means you don\\u2019t have the ability to actually deal with situations that will inevitably arise. Avoiding conflict builds stress levels. Productive conflict is healthy, it gets us talking about issues and moving beyond them. It happens when there is a problem to be figured out, and you actually get somewhere. Contrast that to an unproductive conflict which is often personal and sometimes vicious. \\nValidating Emotions - a Simple FormulaTodd mentions that where there are humans, there is conflict. Liane agrees, and laughs at the idea of \\u201ckeeping emotions out of things.\\u201d We just can\\u2019t do that. People have feelings, feelings are part of conflict, and we need to understand that and think about practical ways to be effective while being emotional. Liane talks about how to create outlets for emotions to minimize their impact on decision making or conflict resolution. When people feel validated for their feelings, they\\u2019re much more likely to be invested in finding a solution. Liane provides a simple formula you can use in conflict conversations. \\nChanging MindsetsOften executives shy away from the word conflict - but they shouldn\\u2019t. Liane talks about a strategy to help identify the different areas of interest and concerns amongst different members of a leadership team. By understanding what other people care about or have to pay the most attention to, leaders are much more understanding of why people are the way they are, and where conflict is likely to be coming from. Many roles are supposed to be in tension with one another - it\\u2019s necessary for growth. \\nTodd mentions that the words in this conversation are scary - conflict, tension and so on - but they\\u2019re valuable and necessary. Mike compares it to playing music - the build-up, then the resolution of tension. Liane explains how this ties back to feeling tension about being your best self and also having conflict - just like in music, when tension builds and is resolved, it\\u2019s satisfying - and beautiful!\\nConflict Debt There are so many conflicts we haven\\u2019t resolved - they build up and weigh people down. When conflict doesn\\u2019t get resolved, we fight, and we end up spreading everything - money, time, and people - too thin. Then we don\\u2019t get ROI, the culture suffers, and projects flounder. This is usually attributed to failure to prioritize, but what it really is is conflict debt. \\nLiane tells how, at the end of the day, we all basically want the same things, and we all want work to be a better contribution to people\\u2019s lives. Work and humans can add so much to each other. \\nResources:The Good Fight | LianeDavey.com/WorkHuman\\xa0 | 3 Coze'