Sonia Gill
Conflict. Nobody likes it but it’s a necessary part of life, especially life as an executive leader overseeing a diverse team with wide ranging responsibilities and – sometimes – agendas.
It’s hard enough when it’s with one person.
But what do you do when faced with several opposing views in making a key trust-level decision or in a ‘high stakes’ executive meeting?
How can you navigate towards a great outcome, without unhelpful compromise, reduced standards and bruised feelings?
Here are three strategies that can help.
- What do you have in common?
What are you trying to achieve? Clarity around this can be a great unifier or it can point to the source of tension.
This aim should be reasonably high level, and sit above any one person’s or function’s specific interests e.g. it’s not just about the finances, it’s not just about the operation.
This provides an agreed anchor point around which ideas about how to achieve this goal can be discussed.