Soar to Success March 2021

Productive Conflict is Healthy, Group Think and Unhealthy Division Are Not A s a person who loved Star Trek, I will never forget the Borg and this saying “Resistance is futile” referring to the assimilation that the Borg was looking to do to Captain Pickard and the Enterprise. What does that have to do with productive conflict you might ask. Everything. I was recently asked some questions in response to my January email newsletter that were very thoughtful regarding not only what is going on in our country but the impact of that in organizations. And when I say what is going on in the country, I am referring to the division and the strong opinions and feelings about the recent Presidential election in particular. What do you do when you not only disagree and maybe even agree to disagree but also do not move off it and there is lingering “baggage”? That got me thinking about all the available techniques and tools that exist to assist. It is what I really have spent my whole career studying, learning, and practicing in organizations. I could not possibly capture years’ worth of Organization Development and Organizations Systems By Janet Kendall White into one article, but I can share some basics and resources for further exploration. 1. Makesure that corevaluesandprinciplesare clear and serve as a foundation. For more on this see our blog, Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. 2. Facilitate discussions using the ladder of inference below, getting people to come down the ladder to the data and then explore the meaning they made, assumptions, etc. This helps better understand how you each got to the point of having beliefs you have and ultimately taking action whatever action you did.