From Conflict to Cooperation

In recent years, increasing numbers of clients are asking for help mediating disputes between individuals whose relationships are having a knock-on effect with their teams, the wider organization, and inevitably, their clients and customers. Most frequently, these conflicts result from a confusion of roles and responsibilities, thereby creating tension in decision making, agreeing the scope of responsibility, and taking accountability between individuals.  This confusion, coupled with tight deadlines, large work loads and functional and cross functional accountabilities, leads to chaos and frequently, poor leadership.  Yet it is in this state that individuals can choose to make successful or disastrous decisions, or be guided into previously unthought-of realms of possibilities and solutions.  It is here that the role of mediation or if possible, self-mediation (a core leadership skill) is a requirement.

The cost of conflict in companies often goes unrecognized as people attempt to muddle through it, leave, continue in a state of armed email conflict, or promote people up or out to resolve it.  Mediation Training Institute International (MTII) has a cost of conflict tool, which when broken into its component parts begins to expose exactly where and how much a single conflict can cost an organization.  To use their terminology, just consider the following factors:

·         The opportunity cost of wasted time
·         Reduced decision quality
·         Restructuring (moving people and changing jobs to allow for individuals not to come into contact)
·         Lowered job motivation
·         Lost work time at multiple levels
·         Health related costs (e.g. stress)
·         Lost employees and the cost of hiring and retraining
·         Sabotage, theft of the cost of damaged property or goods

While most clients acknowledge that conflict may affect their business, and general employee morale, they frequently don’t have a true sense of the real dollar cost of conflict to their organization.  To illustrate this point, last week we ran the MTII Cost of Conflict tool to assess the cost of a conflict in a client organization.  The result was a staggering $278,442.83 and this is a very conservative estimate in a small organization of 15 people.

 

So what is the definition of conflict?  The Dana Mediation Institute defines conflict as a condition between people:

·  Who are task interdependent, and
·         where one or both feel angry, and
·         find fault with the other, and
·         use behaviors that cause a business problem

Defining the level of severity of the conflict is core to deciding how to approach the management of the conflict.  Everyone can expect to have small confrontations at some time in their working career, and at this level, most individuals are able to resolve the situation either by giving in, deciding not to engage, re-negotiating an outcome, or by asserting their will.  But some of these very behaviors can actually be cause for the confrontations to escalate as the underlying  issues are not properly addressed.  Where possible, this is the time that that true leaders need to draw on the core skill of being able to self mediate.  This is a process where they initiate a planned and structured discussion with the other party in a non threatening manner, and agree to find a resolution in a constructive way. 

However, this dialogue may not always work depending on the roles and the political power of the players, and the conflict may escalate to crisis levels.  It is at this point when the relationship is on the verge of ending and the company in danger of the conflict moving into legal territory, or has the potential for retaliatory behavior, that a trained mediator needs to step in.

The mediator’s role is to create a safe environment where the emotional energy between two individuals can be guided through a cycle of conflict, and fatigue, to a place of resolution.  The mediator can be an outside party, or an internal manager.  Whomever it is, their role is not to take sides, or to dictate the outcome, but to highlight the interdependency of the two factions in being able to resolve a business related issue which both parties accept as being the reason they want to come together to resolve their dispute.  Through this common focus, the mediator is able to create the conditions necessary for the two parties to come together, and ultimately, to agree on a fair and balanced solution.

People are social beings, and have a natural tendency to want to seek reconciliation especially if they are brought together around a common cause.  In mediation, this is known as the “inhibitory reflex[i]”.  Mediation takes individuals through a cycle in which four forces play a part in ultimately moving the parties toward a point of breakthrough, during which the energy between the individuals changes and the mediator can direct the individuals toward seeking a solution.  

 During this process, it is key that the opposing individuals are not allowed to walk away or disengage,  or power play and impose one sided and power imposed  solutions(based on title or role).  Thus it is important that these and other ground rules are agreed at the start of the process, and overseen by the mediator.  This begins with both sides being given the opportunity to fully express themselves, and once breakthrough has been achieved, for the two sided to be given the opportunity to find their own solutions.   Empowering individuals to find their own solutions, is the core to mediation.  If individuals are engaged in finding and managing their own solutions, they will put more “discretionary effort[ii]” into making sure the solution will be permanent.  This is because the mediation process allows individuals to engage in a cathartic outpouring of their emotions and frustrations, yet also be part of creating a solution which is not imposed on them.  A process known as Fair Process [iii].

The experience and skills Namaqua Consulting offers, enables your organization to act quickly before conflicts spiral out of control, providing alternatives to some of the legal and other costs associated with work related conflicts.   At Namaqua Consulting, we offer a blend of three forms of mediation; transformative mediation, common interest based mediation, and facilitative mediation.  Our goal is to empower individuals who are stuck within the conflict cycle, to first develop the tools to talk and provide feedback to each other, with the aim of transforming the “stuck” nature of their relationship into a more constructive association.  We also facilitate by designing the process to bring the two parties together to express their frustrations in safety, and to examine their own options for a fair and balanced resolution which they can both agree on, in the interests of resolving a common, work related issue.   To find out how you can mitigate conflict, lower cost and improve productivity in your organization, please contact Nicole Aliev.

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[iii] Fair Process: Managing in the. Knowledge Economy by W.Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. Harvard Business Review . 1997.

[i] A behavioral mechanism to reduce destructive aggression in territorial encounters. Managing Workplace Conflict: The Managing Differences Seminar^TM. V 5.1© 1999-2010 by Dana Mediation Institute, Inc.

[ii] Discretionary Effort - Difference in the level of effort one is capable of bringing to an activity or task, and the effort required only to get by or make do.  http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/discretionary-effort.html#ixzz2j7Yo2Gpw