Understanding emotions in a negotiation, mediation, or some form of alternative dispute resolution is critical. Emotions are often misunderstood during conflicts and when addressing conflict resolution and conflict management. Exceptional leaders understand this and are continual learners in this area. The following is summary commentary from two studies as presented from the Program on Negotiation as offered by the Harvard Law School with additional insights.
In order to negotiate better, resolve disputes, and overcome conflicts it is necessary to apply the collaboration effect based on neuroscience. The collaboration effect involves connecting relationships, listening actively, and educating judiciously in order to build bridges and negotiate closure. Last week’s blog addressed being authentic and generating connecting relationships. This week’s blog addresses listening actively. Initiating any argument by taking an attitude that you are there to help, to listen, and to work towards a solution rather seeing the other party as an adversary makes a big difference according Daniel Shapiro, an expert in negotiations at Harvard. It is us versus the problem instead of us versus them. So, let’s look at listening actively.
Having been called upon to be a leadership keynote speaker I am always on the lookout for material to enhance my knowledge and share with others. Focusing on collaboration and both preventing negative conflict and promoting positive conflict management and conflict resolution using mediation and negotiation techniques I appreciated this article from Forbes. The article offers 15 ways to improve business partnership collaboration. In general, I find that most people including me can only remember about three things so the commentary that follows focuses on three of the areas, in particular with additional insights you may find helpful based on additional research.
When you think about negotiations, you may think about a lot of things, but have you thought about racism and what it costs? I am not talking simply about bias. I have blogged on Women and Salary Negotiations, Business Valuers, the IRS, and Conflict Resolution – Part 1 and Part 2, Why Emotions Matter in Negotiations, and Conflict and Dispute Resolution in Cross Cultural Negotiations. These and related posts all tie into the cognitive, conscious, and unconscious bias we all have. Have you ever thought how much racial bias is costing our society? It all has to do with the big lie.
Everyone likes to work for a kind, considerate, caring, professional supervisor and on a team where everyone is valued and aligned towards a common goal. Everyone looks out for one another and the overall goals of the firm. However, when negative employee conflict or disputes arise, and they are not addressed in a timely and in an appropriate manner this can cause a host of problems including lower productivity, lower morale, increased costs, and employee turnover. The question arises with what can you do to reduce and address employee conflict and reduce employee turnover? That is the focus of this article.
Did you realize that 75% of employees regard collaboration at work to be important? With more people working remotely, what are you doing to promote collaboration with your team whether remote or on site? Collaboration drives productivity, team building, customer service, and employee satisfaction. This article explores some tools to help you and your team be more collaborative going forward whether you are together on site, working at home or offsite, or some hybrid situation.
In an article from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkley the author, James McConchie, PhD, looks at two of the great minds from the field of positive psychology and shares what he has found from their body of work. The author provides ten lessons learned from these two giants in the field, Ed Diener and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Starting with these ten lessons you are provided with additional commentary that you can use to be happier and more productive
A difficult conversation can be something that makes you anxious or gives you stress. Everyone has difficult conversations The question is, what should you not do and what should you do when faced with a tough conversation. This could be personnel matter, a conduct issue, a reprimand, a transfer, a termination, or any of a host of difficult conversations. As an author that specializes in conflict resolution and collaboration, here are some observations to help you.
Not all conflicts are bad. Having conflicting views can encourage dialogue and discussion allowing for ideas to shared. Taking a look at returning to the office, How we return and why it matters is important. It is all about collaboration in the new normal. This can lead to a collaborative positive even better solution. However, when conflicts turn negative this can have very destructive and negatively impact productivity, morale, and customer satisfaction.
The Collaboration Effect is all about finding ways to collaborate with others for better outcomes. A key element for collaboration with others is parties engaging with each other. Leaders know this and foster collaboration. The Collaboration Effect is all about connecting relationships, listening actively, and educating judiciously to build bridges and negotiate closure This article takes a deeper dive into reaching out to others, engaging with others, and finding ways to really connect based on their needs.
I would like to explain the three elements of The Collaboration Effect to address both conflicts and collaboration. Is conflict blocking your results? Would you like to be more productive, more profitable, and have more pleasure? Then you will want to take advantage of The Collaboration Effect by connecting relationships, listening actively, and educating judiciously to build bridges and negotiate closure. The Collaboration Effect enhances relationships, resources, and results. In other words, by taking advantage of The Collaboration Effect you will be better as a person, your firm will perform better, you will be able to interact better with difficult people, and you will have better results with others with improved collaboration.
Collaboration is simply the action of two or more parties working towards a common a goal. However, not everyone is necessarily on the same page and conflicts can arise for a variety of reasons. To minimize conflicts and to improve collaboration here are five actions you can take to improve the process. When you improve the process you enhance relationships, reduce required resources, and improve results.
