Coaching Drill: Embracing Conflict

Conflict is inevitable. It’s normal. It can be an important ingredient in building a strong family team.

The goal is not to have conflict. In fact, the goal is to learn to lean into the conflict and get better at navigating your way through it. The last goal would be to learn from it.

Having the opportunity to work in both family and non-family companies, I see a stark difference in how conflict is handled. In non-family businesses, I think it’s easier to engage in conflict and not take it personally. I get it. Family history always colors and impacts how we deal with conflict in the business.

Stop it. You can do this with clear intentions and practice.

Start by having a session with the team. Email everyone ahead of time (or forward this to them) and ask them to come to a skill building session on, “More Effectively Working with Conflict.”

Hello Team!

I would like you to reflect on the following questions. Please come prepared to answer.

• What is your mindset about conflict?
• Is it good or bad, healthy or harmful?
• What experiences or thoughts have led to your mindset?
• What is the whole family’s mindset about conflict?
• What would happen if the family gets better at managing conflict?

Here’s a one-minute video I would like you to review. Click here to watch.

I’d encourage you to take this opportunity to build some skills, confidence and resilience about dealing with conflict in our business. It will make a huge difference when you and your team learn to master inherent conflict!

Not sure where the conflict is? Check out my Landmine Detection Map to see the most common sources of conflict. Here is the map.

Learning Constructive Conflict Skills – it’s just one of 20 exercises in our Family Business Playbook. You can find out more about the Playbook right here.

Play to your potential!