From Conflict to Courage: How to Stop Avoiding and Start Leading

"Unresolved conflict wastes time, inhibits productivity, hampers team performance, and negatively affects business outcomes. As a result, many leaders either mismanage conflict or avoid it altogether, putting their entire organization at risk. The only way for leaders to productively manage conflict is to expand their capacity for it. Conflict capacity is about recognizing one's own mental and emotional limits, expanding a tolerance for discomfort, and skillfully navigating the complexities of conflict. Three integral elements make up conflict capacity: culture (workplace support for leaders initiating accountability conversations) the inner game (tolerance for withstanding the conflict storm) the outer game (development of the skills and abilities necessary to mediate conflict to a desired end result) This book teaches readers how to approach difficult conversations and work with high-conflict people while overcoming their internal and external barriers to give them better emotional integrity and a clearer vision for the future of their organization"--
Unresolved conflict is workplace kryptonite. Learn how to develop the mindset and skills to defuse disagreements, overcome division, and turn conflict into an opportunity for growth.Unresolved workplace conflict wastes time, increases stress, and negatively affects business outcomes. But conflict isn’t the problem, mismanagement is. Leaders unintentionally mismanage conflict when they fall into patterns of what Marlene Chism calls “the Three As:” aggression, avoidance, and appeasing. “These coping mechanisms are ways human beings avoid the emotions that come with conflict, but in the end it’s all avoidance,” says Chism. In this book she shows how to fearlessly deal with conflict head-on by expanding your conflict capacity. Conflict capacity is a combination of three elements. The foundation is the Inner Game—the leader’s self-awareness, values, discernment, and emotional integrity. The Outer Game is the skills, tools, and communication techniques built on that foundation. Finally, there’s Culture—the visible and invisible structures around you that can encourage or discourage conflict. Chism offers exercises, examples, and expert guidance on developing all three elements. Leaders will discover techniques to increase leadership clarity, identify obstacles, and reduce resistance. They’ll develop powerful skills for dealing with high-conflict people and for initiating, engaging in, and staying with difficult conversations. Readers will learn that when they see conflict as a teacher, courageously face it, and continually work on transforming themselves, they can get the resolution they are seeking. They can change minds.