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We're continuing our examination of the profile of a 'complete' manager - one who daily achieves Predictable Success® for herself, her team, and the organization she works for.
Over the last couple of months we have seen that the foundation of a complete manager lies in their ability to enhance their productivity. More specifically in the areas of; time management, priority management, crisis management and delegation.
We progressed in the series to look at the second group of key skills; Developing Others. In this area we have demonstrated how the Complete Manager provides consistent, on-going performance assessment, ensures their team receives appropriate mentoring and coaching and finally, empowers their employees to make decisions.
(If you want to follow along the connections between the 14 characteristics, you can download a copy of the Complete Manager Brain Map - a pdf version of the graphic at top right).
You can track the series using this progress bar:
"Don't be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against, not with, the wind."- Hamilton Mabie
This week we are moving on to the final of the three key skill areas - Teamwork.
Note the importance of this sequence - to become a Complete Manager, it is vital first to master personal productivity (only then, using those skills, can you successfully manage the rest of the development process). Second, the Complete Manager learns to develop their own team, then finally, moves on to ensure that they, and their team, work well with others in the organization. Of course, many of these attributes are instinctually developed alongside each other, but in terms of optimizing your structured development in these areas, we strongly recommend tackling them in this sequence.
Under teamwork (by which, remember, we mean you and your team working well with the rest of the organization,) the first competency is conflict management.
In most of my work helping managers and supervisors improve their conflict management skills I've noticed that dealing with conflict is usually a matter of extremes.
Managers are often either too ruthlessly confrontational, or too conflict-averse. The result is either an over-competitive, testosterone-driven environment, or the slow build of passive-aggressive resentments. In the worst of worlds, an otherwise highly competent management team can be brought to the edge of dysfunction by the combination of both.
The Complete Manager does not overreact to conflict by needlessly creating it, or avoiding it. Instead they manage conflict positively, looking past the individuals concerned and seeking the best for the organization as a whole. By doing so, they reap specific rewards that come only with well-managed conflict:
1. It keeps the organization vibrant
Click on the image above to download a 17-page pdf workbook from the members-only resource area.
The handout includes five key questions to assess how effective you (or your managers) are at each of the 14 key skills of a Complete Manager.
Not a member yet? Click here to join and access this resource
An organism lacking conflict is one in which the status quo rules. In other words, it is dead, or dying.A lack of conflict within an organization is a sure sign that it is in decline: it's at least in treadmill if not in bureaucracy. In these decline stages, the organization suppresses dissent and risk-taking, and attempts to minimize healthy conflict in preference to maintaining the status quo...
"We do what we do because that's what we've always done."
The organization that suppresses conflict has lost the ability to react to change, and is weakening the muscle to self-diagnose its problems. A company with little or no conflict will lose the entrepreneurial drive that keeps it moving forward. Conversely, a healthy approach to conflict shows that the organization is still capable of thinking for itself and is receptive to the changes that need to take place to achieve the organization's goals.
Is there a healthy amount of conflict in your organization?
2. It produces better solutions
Dorothy Thompson said that "Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict."
When conflict arises in your organization, if it is handled correctly, it will produce better answers to problems: A more efficient process for producing widgets, a better system for dealing with customer complaints, an improved cash collections system...whatever the underlying issue is, it is better solved by managing conflict than by ignoring or dramatizing it.
The key is in transforming conflict management from an "I win - you lose" to a "win-win-win" approach (I win, you win, the organization wins). To achieve this, the Complete Manager acts as a wise mediator, guiding their team through the process, not micro-managing it.
When conflict arises in your organization do you use it as an opportunity to produce better solutions?
3. It increases the organization's ROI.
Poor communication dilutes the economic return in any organization. Whether you measure your success by profitability, ROI, ROS, bed turns, customer satisfaction, or just the number of days vacation you can take (my personal favorite), poor communication dilutes that return by adding redundancy into the system.
Of all of the types of miscommunication that cause redundancy, poor conflict management is by far the most toxic. Whether it's the 'corporate drama queen' (a gender-free affliction, I assure you), or the passive-aggressive avoider, failing to manage conflict drains profits, sales, efficiencies and effectiveness out of the organization at a water-boiling rate.
In The Predictable Success® Complete Manager Program we encourage (and assist) participating managers to develop their own conflict management skills.
If you would like to enquire about The Predictable Success® Complete Manager Program for yourself or your managers (or make a no-obligation pre-registration), just use this simple form and we'll get back to you with the details.
How are you doing?
We've put together six questions that will help you to diagnose your conflict management skills. Take a look below to see how you're doing.
 Members: click here to download a workbook containing these and other questions covering all 14 Complete Manager key skills |
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If two or more answers are in the 'Never' or 'Sometimes' columns, consider getting help. If three or more answers are in the 'Never' or 'Sometimes' columns, don't consider not getting help!
Next up: In the next article, we'll move into the second key Teamwork skill; Difficult Conversations.
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Do You Want to Be a Complete Manager?
Do You Want Your Team to Be Complete Managers?
Then pre-register for our upcoming Complete Manager Program - a distance learning program based on all 14 'Complete Manager' characteristics.
There's no obligation whatsoever in pre-registering, and the Program is open to members and non-members alike (although members will receive a discount on the Program registration fee (which we haven't set yet). Just complete this simple form and hit 'Submit':
| Pre-Registration Inquiry: The Predictable Success® Complete Manager Program | |
| Yes - please send me more information on The Predictable Success® Complete Manager Program. I understand I am under no obligation by requesting this information, and that you will not add my details to any other list, or contact me about any other product or service, unless I request it. |