• Chronic becomes acute and urgent; this increases business risk, financial losses and can speed movement toward litigation

• erodes performance resulting in process breakdowns and unintended outcomes

• distorts focus resulting in loss of contact with the realities of the internal and external environments resulting in a muddled view of the marketplace

• dilutes enterprise resources resulting in wasted time, energy and cash

• fights change resulting in overt and covert resistance, resentment and revenge; beneficial and necessary change is thwarted or is effected too late

• attacks quality and service through “foot dragging” and retaliatory activities; this results in loss of customers and competitive edge

The Quick Resolution Solution

To resolve conflicts quickly there must be an unambiguous resolution process in place and a clear understanding of the skills involved in participating successfully in it. This process needs to be crafted to serve the long-term economic interests of the business in its efforts to achieve strategic goals and objectives and not just to ameliorate interpersonal strife caused by misunderstandings or injured feelings.

This is where many resolution processes go awry: they focus exclusively on the personal issues and emotions of the parties involved and don’t take into account the systemic cultural sources that trigger and sustain conflict.

Examples of the latter could include inequities in workload distribution within the same department and differences in management supervision approaches and practices among different departments.

Further to the point, the lack of a clear communication process that holds both speaker and hearer accountable for the timeliness, thoroughness, accuracy and consistency of intentional messages, both verbal and written, is the primary cause of a primary source of conflict: misunderstanding.

Until these types of fundamental elements of organizational culture are honestly scrutinized and any shortcomings corrected, no matter how well appears to be initially resolved it will reignite later without warning.

Any effective resolution to organizational must include an unmitigated examination of the organization’s structure, policies, procedures and processes and must accomplish three ends:

• Reduce the risks of failure to achieve goals and objectives
• Prevent loss of financial investment, asset value and human capital
• Recover negatively impacted performance so that business outputs are measurably improved
Furthermore, all personnel will need to be trained in simple yet effective relationship development skills so they can confidently engage others with whom they are in to:

• identify the primary issue(s) at the center of the dispute
• establish agreement that there is a better way to be in relationship and that “anyone who angers you conquers you”
• enter into a simple resolution process that they and all employees have had a hand in creating and commit to stay in until a mutually satisfactory resolution is achieved

This simple resolution process involves the following:

1. Initiating non-judgmental dialogue with a co-worker

2. Committing to participating in the process, cooperating with the rules of engagement as they are defined by the process and to listening without interruption

3. Stating the problem in terms that remove the other’s defensivenessMbr> 4. Removing environmental obstacles and challenges from the meeting time and place that typically cause communication efforts to fail (i.e., no uninterrupted privacy, noisiness, too close to meal time, etc.)

5 Agreeing to approach the issue not as “me-against-you” but as “us-against-the-problem”

6. Acknowledging naturally occurring conciliatory gestures, such as admission of misunderstanding or even culpability, apologizing, expressing responsibility for the consequences of one’s behavior, etc.

7. Forming simple agreements that prevent recurrence of by soliciting specific supportive behaviors and verbal encouragement from all those who have been affected by the and, therefore, have a stake in its resolution

Resolutions that emerge from this type of process quickly release arrested energy and allow it to be steered toward goal accomplishment. Ironically, the experience of becomes an element in a shared history between colleagues that serves to bond them in future interactions.

The tension, anxiety and stress that are relieved by means of mutually addressing and resolving transform into a predisposition toward cooperative behavior. The lifting of the emotional weight caused by generates enthusiasm, creates a collaborative spirit and builds hopefulness for a better future as well as a desire to maintain an environment in which these emotions and behaviors can thrive.

The Log

An important step in a quick resolution solution is to chronicle conflicts by documenting in a “conflict log” all manifestations of in the organization.

Each example is analyzed as to date of occurrence, personal as well as structural causes, internal and external environmental contributors, all attempts at resolution, outcomes, duration of initial resolution, amendments to initial agreements and instances of reoccurrence and subsequent outcomes.

This history and encyclopedia of in your organization will help to easily identify the patterns and sources that give rise to and fuel between and among individuals and business units. When in disagreement, the parties involved can quickly consult the log to aid them in their understanding and appreciation of the dynamics of the in which they are currently engaged.

Develop a Risk Management Strategy

A clearly defined and communicated resolution process is only part of the organization’s overall risk management strategy.

A risk management strategy is simply a detailed plan that clearly states the environmental causes of conflict, their current negative impact on the organization’s forward momentum toward accomplishing its goals, all specific deleterious effects on its finances and prospects for growth and a concisely written list of all the behaviors that lead both to and its resolution.

It furthermore identifies the resulting benefits to individuals and processes that the resolutions of conflicts will have. But it goes a step further in that it details the ways in which the energy that is freed up by means of constructive resolution can be practically applied to existing business processes and improvement efforts.

Any effective risk management strategy must include:

1. Specific corrective actions that will concurrently remove the disruptive effects of from all aspects of the operating environment

2. Identification of processes, procedures, policies and behavioral patterns that contribute to recurring conflicts

3. A detailed plan to eliminate these contributors to from the operating environment

4. A list of proven methods and behaviors that quickly resolve by identifying and then addressing the underlying environmental and/or personal root causes

5. A written agreement template to be completed by those in agreeing to change their focus from “me-against-you” to “us-against-the-problem”

6. A list of detailed scenarios in which processes are delineated to harness the liberated time and energy now available for productive ends

When designing and implementing your risk management strategy, you’ll need to assess the entire business environment to determine the relevant factors and forces at work in the dispute.

In other words, you’ll have to approach and its causes in a holistic manner. One of your objectives will be to remove all contributing sources within your operating environment that feed the continuation and escalation of while transforming the energy that is bound up by into positive momentum toward productive business outcomes.

Managers will need to be equipped with resolution skills that enable them to place organizational resolution into the larger context of strategic business issues that require their attention.

Solutions need to be reality based and driven by project management disciplines that bring measurability and accountability for everyone involved in every resolution.

Effects of an Effective Risk Management Strategy

• is everybody's business

• is resolved quickly and conflict-related risk and loss is permanently removed

• is used as a performance recovery tool

• sharpens focus on strategic business goals and objectives

• is used to identify and prevent waste through conservation and enhancement of assets

• is used strategically to build collaboration, commitment and civility

• is used to identify and design corrective actions

Simple resolution skills for risk reduction, loss prevention and performance recovery are a vital aspect of your risk management strategy.

These skills, together with the quick resolution solution process will make resolving differences between personnel a natural part of the daily operating environment in your organization.

In short, it will become a competitive edge that will drive enterprise growth.

Ken Wallace, M. Div., CSL has been in the organizational development field since 1973. He is a seasoned consultant, speaker and executive coach with extensive business experience in multiple industries who provides practical organizational direction and support for business leaders. A professional member of the National Speakers Association since 1989, he is also a member of the International Federation for Professional Speaking and holds the Certified Seminar Leader (CSL) professional designation awarded by the American Seminar Leaders Association. Ken is one of only eight certified Business Systems Coaches worldwide for General Motors.

His topics include ethics, leadership, change, communication & his unique Optimal Process Design® program.

Tel:(800)235-5690 Claim your free Leadership Self-Evaluation Checklist by visiting the Better Than Your Best website.

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