Rule 26: Take Decisive Action to End Discord

Overview

SNAPSHOT

Do you personally intervene in personality conflicts among those with whom you work?

Yes: 84 percent

No: 16 percent

We have discussed how management by intimidation interferes with information flow and creativity. We discussed in Rule 25 how emotion interferes with risk analysis. Indeed, it is a common thread in the interviews that I conducted that emotion interferes with organizational goals such as making money, producing quality products, or providing effective services. It follows, therefore, that invincible executives do not tolerate festering emotional conflicts among their employees.

Every time two people will not work well together, that conflict creates an inefficiency in the organization. That inefficiency costs money and hurts the product. Consequently, invincible executives learn to work with competent people whom they do not like, and they require others to do so as well. "I don't have to like you. I don't have to socialize with you after work. But we've got a corporate goal here and we better well do it," according to top Anheuser-Busch executive Stephen Lambright. Because conflict hurts the bottom line, very few top professionals adopt a hands-off approach to personality conflicts among employees. In fact, resolving conflict is "a significant part of the job" of managing people, according to top banker Drew Baur.

"I am the court of last resort," says Tom O'Neill of Parsons Brinckerhoff. "I give my people a chance to resolve a conflict by themselves, but if they can't, I do it for them," O'Neill notes. He considers himself to be the "anchor" for the company—the person who is always on an even keel himself and the person whose job it is to keep everyone else on an even keel as well. Resolving conflict is an essential part of being an effective CEO, according to O'Neill.

Doug Bain, the general counsel of Boeing, notes that keeping a group of motivated lawyers from fighting with one another is no easy task. Consequently, he is very direct about resolving such conflicts. His approach is "you and I do not have to like each other but we've got to work together." And what are the consequences of not working well together? "The consequence is you leave the company." This decisive approach to resolving conflict is common among executives who have staying power.