Get a room full of professionals together who think alike with similar backgrounds and experiences to work on a goal and you’ll not only have an enjoyable experience, you’ll have success. Or, get a room full of professionals who agree about the goal but vary in their view of the approach to the goal and conflict will emerge.  However, research proves that if you can get them to successfully work through the conflict, you’ll have a much higher degree of sustainable success.

Where there is collaboration, conflict is bound to emerge. Successful organizations engage the conflict through skillful coaching methods so they can achieve their goals. The success results in key repeatable behaviors.

Conflict is good when it is properly acknowledged, embraced and addressed. Conflict is bad when it is ignored or contained – producing a polarizing and paralyzing effect on the group’s ability to move forward. When people find themselves in conflict, what they are really signaling are both their fears and their passion for their position, thoughts, or ideas. Their brain is telling them to protect and defend at all costs. So, conflict erupts.

What if I told you, you could learn to work together, through conflict, to achieve the goals you individually and collectively desire most? Here’s what it takes: a willingness to listen, observe, engage, and shift.

If you can do that, then we should talk.