In Part 1 of this two-part article series, I discussed the price of silence, organizational or interpersonal problems at work. I called this silence, "the snake under the rug", based on a story of organizational systems Authority Peter Senge. How do you let the snake from under the rug and keep yourself and your business well-functioning, once on the loose? How do you know when to respond best and how to do it effectively?
Startby how important the issue is. Many people are confronted with raising difficult issues or unpleasant to another, so they decided it aside and go further. Unfortunately, deciding and actually doing it are two different things. Want to really be able to lift them and forgotten? Will you take care of this problem in the future? Is this little problem may be representative of a larger problem that has been avoided or ignored? Of course, you do not need toto increase every little disagreement, as this can bog and the organization itself and cause others to you as someone who can not understand the difference between important issues and the small, everyday nuisances we all see experience.
Select the time and place with care. Raising a problem or disagreement in a time limit may mean, for example, that your concerns are not only well attended, but that you inadvertently increase the stress on an alreadystressful time. Choose a time when you are calm and if the other parties have the time and space to listen to you. Generally, you want to choose a private location, when an increase may be a problem to a large group --- as in the company cafeteria for lunch --- the other person to carry a lot faster in the defense.
The Harvard researchers noted in Part 1, I had a wonderful parable about the time it takes to face difficult situations in the workplace:A farmer had a cart full of apples. He stopped a man on the side of the street and asked how far she was on the market. The man replied: "It is an hour away, is when you go slow." He continued: "If you are quickly going the whole day." There were bumps in the road and when the farmer went too fast, his apples would bounce out of the car as he sped over the bumps. So he had a large part of his days spent stopping to hold the apples.
In an age of multi-tasking and pressure, doing things at work, it isvery tempting to ignore or avoid conflict in the name of efficiency and productivity. But such thinking is shortsighted, as a rule, if the conflict or difficulty is very important. Time in which it does with a problem at the front end of regulation time (and emotional energy), later saved, because not usually go ignored. Instead, they are bigger or the snake under the rug. What can you do for an organization
Supervisors should not be taughtto punish them, explicitly or implicitly, those employees who raise the important points. Help them understand that is where creativity and decision making as the result of properly express enhanced differences that reflect on the supervisor to be positive.
Leaders need role models in the effective and open communication of differences. Verbal embraces a value if it in action express undermined this value and their place in theOrganization
Give your employees the talk express encouragement. And when they speak, not reference, directly or indirectly, if the message is delivered badly, or a hard to hear. When companies promote open communication, without the systems and support in place to observe them effectively, employees can be a mixed message.
Help employees develop the skills to effectively confront them room to improve if theyThey do not do it very well at first. This goes far beyond a few hours of conflict resolution training. Real change requires real commitment to conduct training and support while practicing the new behaviors.
What can be done
Develop the courage and the commitment to talk about things that really matter. Cautiously at first start, when the area unpleasant for you. Do not take the easy way. As the Harvard researchers pointout, it feels easier to blame the other person, you sit back and expect that they make the next step. But in every conflict there are at least two contributions. You must be willing to take the first step sometimes.
Realize that while your boss formal power over you, you also have power. For example, the success of the company affected, in part, how well you contribute. Otherwise, to step up to important talks signifies your withholding part of whatyour organization can succeed.
Ask for help. Advocate for their own training and assistance in developing more effective conflict engagement skills.
Breaking the spiral of silence in a workplace that has shown a sense of fresh air, filled with possibility and a place that we want. And raised with the practice and the commitment and hard questions will be easier and starts, part of the woodwork in an organization, a normal and welcome part of awell-functioning workplace.
© Copyright 2005 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.
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