Are you embracing conflict?

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Is your workplace riven by conflict? Here’s a video you might want to watch…

I was especially interested by a recent talk by Rochelle King (pictured above) Global VP of Design for the company Spotify, a music streaming, podcast and video service.

King speaks insightfully — and entertainingly —  about how conflict lies at the core of any creative endeavour. But instead of figuring out how to avoid it, she says, we should be looking for ways to take control of it.

 

You can read (or view) the entire speech here, and it’s worth the five minutes it takes (to read) or 20 minutes (to view). Here’s how I think King’s message can be translated into communications departments:

  • Before you engage in any conflict, make sure you know what you’re fighting for. And make sure that it’s worth the effort. As designers put it: be sure you frame the problem correctly. Don’t ask someone to build a boat or a bridge. Instead, ask them how to cross the river.
  • Ensure that you’re expressing your point of view effectively. I loved hearing that when King was at Netflix, the company ran mock debates to train people how to express their views more convincingly. I coach the debate team at my local high school and I know how liberating it is for them to become articulate and convincing.
  • Get feedback from the people you perceive to be your most vicious opponents. And do it before the stakes get too high. They’ll likely welcome the chance, it may result in making your idea better and, as King says, “the best thing is that it’s not personal.” Instead, it becomes an academic exercise.
  • Look for patterns in conflict. Seeing these patterns may reveal the process that you’re using to approach  conflict or, perhaps, how you typically resolve it. Once you’ve figured out the patterns you then start to apply this insight to future conflicts and manage them better.

Conflict is inevitable in life and work. We all see things differently and have different ideas. But seeing conflict as a positive force — rather than a negative one — is the best way to reduce its power.

 

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