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Important Topics on Harnessing the Power of Conflict

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Four Myths That Perpetuate Abrasive Behavior At Work

When we join a company, partnership or team, our expectation is that everyone involved will exhibit professional behavior toward us and each other. Instead, it’s highly possible that we may become one of the more than 60 million adults in the United States who are affected in some way by bullying behavior at work.

What kind of behaviors are we talking about? Our definition is any interpersonal behavior that causes emotional distress in others sufficient enough to impede their productivity or disrupt organizational functioning. It isn’t just a personality conflict — it’s a chronic pattern of disrespectful behavior.

When your business team starts spiraling down

A healthy business team is one with strong relationships and vibrant engagement. It’s a beautiful place to be, where people feel heard and creative ideas bump against each other in an open, constructive way. We call it the Creative Tension Zone and it’s the dream (or should be) of any organization with an aim toward consistent growth.

Teams fall out of this place for various reasons, and the spiral downward can devolve into destructive conflict. It is critical to know where you and your team are on the Conflict Curve in order to make good decisions in “real time” so you can recognize what’s happening and pull your team back from the Conflict Spiral abyss.

The Difference Between HR and Organizational Ombuds Functions

On average an ombuds will see 3-5% of an organization’s members in the course of a year. Our work as organizational ombuds has increased steadily over the last couple of years, where we’re initially called in because someone in leadership is being dogged by a “small” conflict that won’t go away but keeps festering and growing until they can’t sweep it under the rug any longer. (From there, we typically enter a contractual arrangement with clients where we serve as their ongoing go-to ombuds, mediator, and conflict adviser.)

10 Ways an Ombudsman Can Increase Your Workplace Productivity

He could have been sitting in the corner of the conference room where I was convening as Organizational Ombuds for a team that was stuck - there was (emotional) clutter, plenty of discord, and a really difficult situation. Tension was high, people were venting. At any moment (my experience told me) someone could explode with frustration. It was like a freight train approaching the room, about to crash!

Creative Tension in the Workplace: Who needs it? You do!

Creative Tension Zone is where huge ideas emerge, innovation thrives, and empires are built! The most successful workplace teams know how to manage constructive conflict to encourage creative tension. What every leader needs to know about leveraging the power of conflict in a team.

Workplace Conflict: How to Deal with Hot Buttons

Have you ever said: “That person just presses my buttons”? We call these 'conflict hooks', because your reaction to the button-pusher has the potential to feed conflict. Understanding what conflict hooks are can help you and your team make better response choices.

9 Early Warning Signs of Workplace Conflict

Conflict doesn't just appear out of nowhere. There are always signs warning that a conflict is developing. Managers who know what these signs are can be more effective leaders by confronting the problem before it rages out of hand. By resolving conflict in the early stages, the company will run much more smoothly and the overall productivity level will be increased considerably. What are these subtle signs of conflict to look for?...

October 13, 2020

When to Get Help for Workplace Disputes or Conflict

October 13, 2020/ Mark Batson Baril

An organization, no matter what size, can find itself facing a conflict so entrenched, so ugly, that a key person is paralyzing the productivity of an entire group, a department is chronically unable to come up with a new idea, or leadership is in such disarray that partners aren’t speaking to each other and some are ready to walk.

Negative conflicts like these can literally bring a company to its knees, particular in the midst of internal or external crises. Mediation is the tool that can help people come to the table, get clear on the issues, sort out their conflicts, and put the company back on track.

October 06, 2020

Organizational Tools: How’s Your Virtual Workplace Doing?

October 06, 2020/ Mark Batson Baril

By now you are settling into whatever your particular virtual workplace needs to be for the next several months. You have some organizational shifts in place, the tech up and running to meet virtually and for your people to work from home (WFH), and made pivots to keep your operations and processes running smoothly.

It must feel really different not to be in the physical workplace — not sitting across from each other in a meeting, popping over to the next cubicle for a quick creative confab, or having the casual contact that builds relationships. You might even be (secretly) happy that the usual “water cooler” gossip, interpersonal tiffs, and snarky obstructionist pushbacks you deal with in the office won’t happen anymore.

Hold on….Don’t go there. Conflict still happens.. Your leadership skills are now being called up to keep your virtual team(s) intact, productive, motivated, and conflict competent.

October 01, 2020

The Silent Ones In Your Workforce (And How To Start Listening To Them)

October 01, 2020/ Mark Batson Baril

A 2017 internal study of 164 ombuds offices in the U.S. and Canada found that, on average, 3.2% of an organization’s population used the Office of the Ombuds as a resource to resolve a variety of conflict issues.

What are the implications of this finding? Without an ombuds or similar structure in place, 3% of most organizations’ employees believe they have nowhere to turn to resolve issues within their workplace because their organization does not have an internal system in place to hear them. If you have 100 people in your organization, it’s likely that three of them are dealing with something right now at work that is troubling them, and it could potentially create a negative ripple effect throughout the organization.

March 23, 2020

A Guidepost for Maintaining Team Trust in a Time of Crisis, COVID-19

March 23, 2020/ Mark Batson Baril

Our niche is in helping teams use conflict and creative tension to increase their performance so they reach objectives faster. Over the years it became clear that without high levels of trust in place as a foundation, heightened conflict competency was an elusive goal.

What is also clear is that during times of crisis, trust can be both easier to build and tougher to maintain.

Easier to build in that the team may have a clear, common enemy to fight against and, with the right leadership, can rally around that common interest to trust each other more. Tougher to maintain because in times of crisis, decisions need to be made fast and with vigor which can result in mistakes made and transparency forgotten.

October 08, 2019

I’m an Ombuds - What’s in My Toolbox?

October 08, 2019/ Mark Batson Baril

The Organizational Ombuds is being seen more and more as an important service for organizations in a complex world. The profession has existed for centuries yet remains relatively unknown, especially as anything beyond someone to call in for disputes to avoid litigation.

Yes, we do that, but the real and lasting benefit is when we partner with HR leadership to build a workplace culture which is empowered to overcome disputes, conflict and barriers that keep the organization from thriving.

It’s a little like building a house: A reputable contractor brings in experts in different areas such as roofing, masonry, and electrical systems to ensure that the building will be up to code, run efficiently, and for a reasonable amount of time. This foundational expertise is as important as the actual structure itself to create a viable, lasting living space.

August 29, 2018

How to Build Constructive Conflict into Your Team

August 29, 2018/ Mark Batson Baril

It is never too soon to start building the foundation of constructive conflict into your team(s), to harness that creative power as well as preempt potential negative conflict.

Bottom-line reason? Conflict is one of the most powerful tools teams can have. Harnessing constructive conflict creates an exciting environment of innovation, forward momentum and productivity. Negative outcomes from conflict emerge when it is ignored.

I’m going to share with you some of the conflict-handling behaviors you might be able to spot in your team members - or yourself!

July 12, 2018

Want Constructive Conflict on Your Team? Get This Tool

July 12, 2018/ Mark Batson Baril

We now know how important it is to build the foundation of constructive conflict into your team(s) - not only to harness that creative power, but also to reduce the possibility of negative outcomes from conflict.

I’m reminded some weeks that Resologics is sometimes called in by clients in crisis. The costs involved in these situations can be staggering. This is one of the reasons I’m so motivated to talk about harnessing conflict for good outcomes.

One super proactive tool that Resologics uses in our work with leaders and teams is the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI®).

March 29, 2018

Managing Conflict in Customer Service: Have a P.E.P. talk

March 29, 2018/ Scott Martin

In 2008, I started a small business renting living Christmas trees in pots as an alternative to cut or artificial trees. In 2012, we pitched the company on ABC’s Shark Tank, and were joined by billionaire investor Mark Cuban. Our business grew exponentially - bringing along with it the opportunity for conflict.

One of our challenges was in customer service.

The good and bad news was just how passionate folks were about their time-treasured holiday symbol of hope and joy. Before an acceptable tree was safely in their home, customers tended to get a little animated....

February 28, 2018

Easy Conversation Starter Tool to Grow Team Trust

February 28, 2018/ Mark Batson Baril

Trust is essential to a productive workplace and to a successful team venture. Trust is a cornerstone of our work with strengthening teams through conflict competency, and I’m often asked by leaders, “So, how do I actually go about creating that trust??”

To build trust within your team or group, start right out of the gate to create a space for open, honest interaction. Our team uses conversation to help people feel comfortable with one another. It’s a simple but powerful way to start building trust in a team.

July 19, 2017

Team agreements: A key to high-performing, happy teams

July 19, 2017/ Mark Batson Baril

Whether it's an operating agreement between startup founders, a safe communications agreement within a team, or ground rules for a project committee -- every team has agreements around how they will work together.

For most teams these agreements are unspoken, unwritten and un-negotiated, nonetheless they become the rules of behavior and are binding on team members. They are "the way things are done around here." They may not be in the policies and procedures manual, but it doesn't take long for new team members to figure out what is rewarded and what is punished.

June 29, 2017

Workplace Conflict: How to Make It Good for Business

June 29, 2017/ Mark Batson Baril

Instead of avoiding conflict which only makes it more destructive, welcome conflict in your workplace as a tool for creative interaction, innovation, and employee engagement. Well-managed conflict is good for business!

May 31, 2017

How Conflict Can Help Your Workplace Team

May 31, 2017/ Mark Batson Baril

“Conflict, when well managed, can breathe life and energy into workplace relationships that inspire more productivity, creativity and innovation.” ~ Mark Batson Baril

Conflict - probably not the first item on your business-building success list, right? However, conflict is a natural occurrence in your workplace and can either catalyze positive experiences that boost growth, or negative experiences that have been known to break a company. So, time to put it on your list!

May 23, 2017

Difficult Conversations in Difficult Times

May 23, 2017/ Mark Batson Baril

How to shift the "difficult" conversations that arise in your workplace, to become "meaningful" and effective conversations. The result? A strong team that can exchange ideas effectively, disagree healthily, innovative creatively, be productive, and get stuff done!

April 27, 2017

Workplace Conflict: How to Deal with Hot Buttons

April 27, 2017/ Mark Batson Baril

April 11, 2017

Step 1 to harnessing "good" conflict in your workplace

April 11, 2017/ Mark Batson Baril

What is harnessing "good conflict?" Building strong teams that embrace and encourage creative exchange of ideas, collaboration, respect, trust, making and keeping agreements. Here is a great first-step tool to help your team build these qualities to become an innovation asset and productivity-driver for your organization.

April 11, 2017

6 Red Flags of Workplace Conflict

April 11, 2017/ Mark Batson Baril

“Wow, I never saw THAT coming!” As a leader, this is a statement you never want to make. Many of us think we know what trouble in the ranks looks like, but too often conflict is simmering without our awareness. And suddenly we’re getting blindsided by a full-blown crisis, and all the costs that it entails.

Conflict doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. There are always red-flag warnings that a conflict is developing, and you are much more likely to avert disaster if you know what to look for early on - and then can act on it in a productive way.

February 15, 2017

The Mediation Process

February 15, 2017/ John Ford

In this post/chapter, I review my definition of mediation and explain the five basic phases of the mediation process, as shown in the illustration above. I also discuss the caucus and how it can be used before the mediation as part of convening, during the mediation as part of the education phase, and after the joint mediation sessions as part of the follow-up process. The chapter ends with a consideration of the involvement of management champions.

February 09, 2017

Universal Human Capacities for Conflict Resolution: A Search for Reliable Cross-Cultural Peacemaker Tools

February 09, 2017/ Mark Batson Baril

What are the universal human core capacities, desires, and innate abilities people in conflict possess that cross-cultural peacemakers can always count on to help parties resolve conflicts? The purpose of answering this question is to help peacemakers develop a clear idea of how parties from different cultures can be guided through conflict resolution processes. I believe that conflict intervention strategies and processes must largely center on the parties’ common core abilities to resolve conflict. Although several categories of human universals will be explored here, the focus of this literature review and research is to examine the current theories that surround the human ability to resolve conflict. Some questions have naturally emerged from this study: Do we know how to resolve conflicts at birth or is it a learned skill? Are there aspects of our innate abilities that predispose us to resolve conflicts without violence? What are those innate abilities and how can we as conflict managers use them to help keep the peace?

January 25, 2017

The Mediator's Stance

January 25, 2017/ John Ford

In martial arts training, students are taught the benefit of various body and mental postures. The totality of these postures, when adopted together, amounts to an effective stance for defense and attack. Students are taught to adopt this stance when presented with a challenge, notwithstanding any contrary reflexive or reactive instincts or habits. The familiarity of the stance inspires confidence and prepares them to meet their reality with competence and agility. It ensures that they are on the best footing possible.

In mediation, there are a number of key postures that are helpful to adopt, that together can be described as the mediator’s stance. In essence, the stance is more of an attitude and mindset which ensures that you do no harm, while supporting collaboration and the emergence of a creative solution. It prepares you to respond consciously in the moment when mediating, and allows you to mediate informally.

January 12, 2017

Med-Arb: The Best of Both Worlds or Just A Limited ADR Option?

January 12, 2017/ Mark Batson Baril

People in conflict are looking for a resolution process that is fair, consistent, transparent, inexpensive, quick, and in some way allows them to tell their own story. Med-Arb offers parties the ability to obtain a definite resolution of a particular dispute, with reduced cost, efficient process, and flexibility to pursue consensual settlement prior to or during binding arbitration. In the right circumstances, med-arb may represent the process that best serves the interests for your clients.

Resoblog

resoblog

Important Topics on Harnessing the Power of Conflict

Featured Blog Posts(scroll down or search for all posts)

One of our challenges was in customer service.

Featured Blog Posts
(scroll down or search for all posts)