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A Guide To… Constructively Managing Conflict

TMA World Viewpoint 34: A Guide To Constructively Managing Conflict

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Page 1: TMA World Viewpoint 34: A Guide To Constructively Managing Conflict

A Guide To…

Constructively Managing Conflict

Page 2: TMA World Viewpoint 34: A Guide To Constructively Managing Conflict

© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Collaboration can be broadly defined as:

People with different skills

and perspectives co-creating

‘something’ that none of the

individual members could

have created alone.

Four Strategies

Page 3: TMA World Viewpoint 34: A Guide To Constructively Managing Conflict

© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Given the growing competitive importance of collaboration, many organizations are seeking to minimize hierarchies, tear down silo walls, hire team players and develop more collaborative leaders and cultures.

Page 4: TMA World Viewpoint 34: A Guide To Constructively Managing Conflict

© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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These are much needed initiatives, but they don’t really get to the root of why collaboration can be so hard to embed in an organization: Self-interest.

Page 5: TMA World Viewpoint 34: A Guide To Constructively Managing Conflict

© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Would you collaborate if you felt it wasn’t in your best interests to do so?

If you want your people to collaborate more, show them how it connects to their wants and needs.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Page 6: TMA World Viewpoint 34: A Guide To Constructively Managing Conflict

© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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1

Identify real collaboration opportunities

2

Find and communicate successes

3

Reward and recognition

4

Learning and Development

Page 7: TMA World Viewpoint 34: A Guide To Constructively Managing Conflict

© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Identify real collaboration opportunities

Sometimes we behave as though collaboration is a moral crusade, but collaboration in the workplace is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Don’t just wave a collaboration banner around the organization. It’s too vague, not action specific and can easily be ignored.

Look for opportunities where collaboration really makes sense, e.g. where the problem is difficult to define or where creativity and improvisation are needed.

Show people where collaboration makes their jobs and lives easier and more satisfying.

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© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Find and communicate successes

We can revise value statements to promote collaboration, but the impact is likely to be minimal and may even breed cynicism. Find collaborative successes – particularly in your organization – and show how it works, don’t just say it works.

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© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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2 Find and communicate successes

People need concrete examples of shared accomplishment, not just PR for the collaboration cause.

A real story, in which the people involved in a collaborative effort speak authentically of their shared and personal challenges and of how they worked through them to a successful outcome, is worth a thousand balloons.

Let the story demonstrate how self-interests and shared interests morphed into our interests.

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© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Reward and recognition

Reworking the reward and recognition system to encourage collaboration behaviours can help. If 20 percent of my salary is based on how well I collaborate with others on my team – or with those outside of my team – I will most likely look at collaboration through a different set of eyes.

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Reward and recognition

We should, however, look at self- interest more broadly than just financial rewards. Self-interest comes in many forms. Many people want to collaborate because of intrinsic rewards like the positive feeling of belonging to a community, or the increased job satisfaction from working with supportive and highly competent colleagues. Some also see the personal benefits to their longer-term careers of learning to work collaboratively. The benefits of financial rewards are often short-lived.

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© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Reward and recognition

Many people are starved of meaning in their work, and cash doesn’t satisfy that self-interest (at least beyond a certain level of income).

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© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Learning and Development

Reward and recognition don’t equip you with the mindsets, behaviours and skills to collaborate effectively with others. Sometimes we simply ask people to collaborate better without answering the ‘how’ questions. The ‘why’ questions are important, but the how questions and answers pack the most power in the workplace.

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© Transnational Management Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Learning and Development

A lack of understanding of the collaborative process, skills and tools can quickly bring a well-intended effort to its knees. I’m not going to be interested in collaborating with others if I feel unprepared and in danger of appearing incompetent.

Human beings can collaborate. We wouldn’t have survived as a relatively successful species if we couldn’t find the means to work together and create that ‘something’ that wasn’t there before.

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Webinar Twitter Blog Viewpoints and articles

Publications Written by Terence Brake, Director of Learning & Innovation at TMA World. Our new Borderless Working e-book series

About Us

Visit

www.tmaworld.com/insights

to discover the latest

thinking from our experts on

global, collaborative, cross-

cultural and

virtual working.

There you’ll find links

to our:

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Above all we’d like to hear from you directly, so please don’t hesitate to send any comments, questions or feedback

to us at: [email protected]

Or visit our website:

www.tmaworld.com

About Us

Visit

www.tmaworld.com/insights

to discover the latest

thinking from our experts

on global, collaborative,

cross-cultural and

virtual working.