Building Trust Through Conflict

Ironically, you have an opportunity to take a relationship to a higher level of trust after a conflict situation. Think of a time when your car had to be returned to the dealer for repair. You may have been frustrated and annoyed by the situation. If the auto dealer handled the situation successfully, we will choose that dealer over another in the future. You trust that they will come through, even if there is an issue. In order to rise to that level of trust in conflict situations, you must be able to:

Adapt

Nothing is more irritating than being in conflict with another person who is rigidly adhering to their set of rules and unwilling to adapt to the particular situation. Be willing to look at the situation objectively and let go of resentment, bias, and inflexible thinking.

Keep the Relationship Warm

Just because you are coming from opposite viewpoints, you don't have to treat each other coldly or rudely. That only deepens the resentment in the conflict situation. Try to continue to connect on a human level with the other person.

Listen to Values

Sometimes a conflict situation gets bogged down in petty details. If you can focus on the values of the other person and look for shared values, you can often find a way to resolve the conflict.

Act on What You Hear

If another person has an issue with you and feels strongly enough about it to express it, it is your responsibility as a professional to act on that communication. You show your good faith in trying to bring the conflict to a mutually acceptable resolution.

Follow Up

You can't simply walk away from a conflict situation and expect that everything is resolved. People need time to cool off and process solutions. Follow up with the other person and check to see that you have moved beyond the conflict in your relationship.

Be Willing to Change Yourself

How can you expect other to change if you can't change yourself? Someone once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results. To put the conflict behind you permanently, you have to demonstrate that you are doing your best to change.

Dale Carnegie Course Impacts Dilbert creator Scott Adams career | Dale Carnegie Blog

Dale Carnegie Course Impacts Dilbert creator Scott Adams career | Dale Carnegie Blog

5 Tips for Succession Planning

Succession planning is a key component in any successful organization’s future. Even if you have a “dream team” assembled, people retire or move on to other opportunities and you must be ready to adapt at a moment’s notice. Baby boomers are leaving the workforce at a rapid pace and leaving behind a wealth of vacant positions. Do you have a strategy in place for when your top performers leave? Do you know who will fill their shoes when they are gone? If you answered “no” to either of these questions, you are leaving yourself open to the dreaded “talent gap” that so many companies face. Without a plan in place, upper management will inevitably move on at some point and you’ll be left with employees that are in no position to step up and assume leadership. Read on to start developing your succession planning initiative today.

1. Align your long term strategy with workforce planning. To determine how to effectively handle succession planning, you must first identify your long term vision and the resources necessary for achieving these goals. Use existing data and metrics to analyze what you are likely to need for a successful business initiative.
   
2. Analyze talent gaps. Once you have determined the resources you will need to realize your vision for the future, search for potential shortfalls. Identify the talent pools needed for the long term and compare them to your current resources. Establish how your supply and demand may change over time and diagnose how you will handle this. It’s crucial to develop a business strategy that caters to future talent needs, not simple position replacement.
   
3. Identify your top performers. Assess your top performers across all areas of your organization. This includes senior leadership all the way down to promising new hires. Turnover is expensive and can take up a lot of time, so ideally you will want to promote from within. Determine who has the most potential for a future within your organization and plan on moving them up accordingly. Conduct performance reviews and regularly communicate with members of your team at all levels to help determine competency and skill. Reassess any potential gaps once you have mapped out which employees have the option for upward mobility.
   
4. Develop and implement your succession strategy. After you have identified your top performers, develop a strategy for how they will move up in the company over the years. Plan for coaching and mentoring initiatives to develop strong performers, along with increasing responsibility, conducting performance reviews, and organizing shadowing programs. Develop strategies for increasing retention and offering incentives to top performers. Recognize their efforts and compensate them well as you slowly expand their responsibilities. The idea here is to have them prepared to step up well before the need arises.
   
   
5. Evaluate. Upon expanding your succession planning strategy and moving your top performers into place, implement a plan to track and monitor their performance. Listen to feedback from their supervisors, peers, and direct reports. Gather information about their performance from clients and customers. If they are underperforming, you may have to reevaluate your workforce planning strategy. If they are exceeding expectations, look for any potential talent gaps at higher levels and consider them for coaching and development. Reassess accordingly as company goals and resources change, this is a continuous process.