By Yves Perreault & François Kaisin

Remarks
In a difficult and uncertain economic environment, we, business coaches, are increasingly being requested by our clients in order to help them improve their working atmosphere, productivity and to help them manage the conflicts of their organizations. The main cause of conflicts are related to the egos and also to “difficult” behaviors, stress, work load, leadership styles, communication problems, different values, and last but not least, similar characters.
Did you know that between 15% and 20% of people show “difficult” behavior that affects person-to-person relationships and companies’ productivity? And that the managers dedicate up to 80% of their time and energy in trying to solve conflicts? All this, without taking into account the costs related to absenteeism… or presenteeism…What should it be done with the employees that are at work but do not do much because they are very worried about conflictive situations in their working environment? On the other hand, there are costs related to this: the loss of productivity and of qualified employees, various opportunities that fade away. The emotional costs such as: anger, fear, anxiety and stress. These are the problems that caused the 90% of employees that involuntary quit their jobs!
When the parties lose sight of the cause or of the incident that unchained the conflict, they see the other party as the responsible one and the real source of the problem, to the extent of stop talking to that party or to get involved in hostile behavior. Hence, the working pace stops being normal due to an uncooperative behavior of the parties. Sometimes, one of the parties or both of them, leave the organization. Do you recognise any of these situations?
At the same time, research about performance shows that the team members who do not have a diversity of opinions, have the tendency to agree swiftly making them feel confident, but also making them take bad decisions. Interesting… Isn’t it?

The individual and his resistances
Conflicts have a common ground: People. When dealing with people you also deal with values, needs and resistances.The needs and values to be respected, both of oneself but also of the others. And if this does not happen, intolerance takes place. The perfect recipe for a conflict!

When we ask the leaders to define resistance, we generally are told that it is something that “prevents the development or the change of an organization from happening”. “It is an employee that always does the opposite to what he is asked to do”…To sum up, it is something negative. But what if this this resistance had to do with a person that is trying to express himself/herself? Then, is it so negative? The person shows resistance because he/she has reasons to do so. And this “something” that causes a blockage, has to do with personal needs and values. What matters now is to identify it, and above all, to know how to cope with it.

What can we do to find out the information that will make the “difference”? What matters most is to take action and get moving! We all know the old saying that time fixes everything, but this doesn’t happen in conflictive situations. In this case, what time does is only one thing: it hardens the position of each party! How can we reconcile our different realities?

The leader and his/her coach attitude
What is certain is that the truth is always in action. Then, go ahead! The working environment in your team forms part of your responsibilities. “Do you have the tools to fix the situation? This is one of the questions that many of the leaders ask us in the first meeting. As if this situation, that has been building up for months, or even years, could be reversed in a few seconds.

And what if we look at the situation in a different way? Instead of looking for the solution outside of us, what if we look inside of us? To sum up, there is no magic formula but having a better understanding of oneself, results in a broad and open understanding toward the others. The only thing that is left to be done has to do with the personal commitment to change the situation for real. It is in this precise moment that the coach intervenes, especially, with a coach attitude. What is more efficient than getting the necessary information to help and encourage the unblocking of the situation? There is nothing more important than making open and impact questions that will give the necessary information to “climb out of the pit”. That is what you do not know, and that can make a difference. We have the” what”. When? As soon as possible. How? During a team meeting or in a coaching session or “team building” session.

In other words, it is all about gathering all the necessary information to create the ideal environment so that the members of the team may express themselves by means of their great ability to listen, through their curiosity and especially through their new attitude. This has a name: Leadership! Only you can solve this situation.

The organization and its skills
The organizations know that they have to invest more energy in the development of skills regarding conflict management.The reason is simple: inactivity is very expensive! From the loss of productivity, going throughout the departure of their best employees to the fragile health amongst the people involved; who can afford to sit back and do nothing? However, a survey conducted recently, where 5,000 employees in Europe and the Americas participated, showed that only 12% of the employees had been trained regarding conflict management. In turn, more than 75% of employees consider this skill as a key element for an efficient leadership.

Previously, management used to be based on authority and control. Nowadays, it is primarily based on self-knowledge in order that the manager is able to project himself/herself outwards, in the same way that the leader does toward his/her team, as an organization towards its clients. This happens only when the conflict is considered as a source of energy and a catalyst for creativity, as long as the conflict is well addressed from the very beginning, without trying to avoid it at all cost.

In this spirit, the organizations implementing efficient strategies to deal with conflicts are amongst the winning ones. In response to the growing demand for coaching, the partners of Morena Coaching International, guide managers and their teams through training workshops and coaching, by enabling them to acquire autonomy and efficiency to cope with those recurrent situations that have such and impact on everyone!