10.35 Managing Conflict Effectively

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Fair, impartial, unbiased, process focused—even so, problems will crop up that cause conflict. Never let conflict take away from your meetings. Take it to another time and place and resolve it in a manner that shows you to be fair, impartial, unbiased, and, most importantly, focused on the process, not on the individuals. If the conflict revolves around something outside the scope of your project, and it cannot be resolved by a decision you make, it is a matter to be resolved by someone other than you. You must emphasize that it has an impact on your work and either encourage instant resolution or arrange for the leadership of the individuals involved to join you in resolving the issue. The main thing is that it should never be put off until another day and cannot be ignored. Sometimes personalities clash. That has to be resolved, and ground rules are a good place to start. Getting the individuals’ management involved is another good move. What is not a good move is to make an arbitrary decision that is not really yours to make. Avoiding that scenario and keeping everyone focused on the project is your job. Doing that mitigates pain.

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