Reality is that in these times of chaos we need to know how to USE conflict more than ever before.
So, we can use conflict by increasing our understanding of the subject and by working each day to prevent, manage and resolve it to our advantage. Conflict can often be predicted, anticipated and prevented. When it’s not expected, we can manage the environment, people, resources, and other variables to increase the likelihood of a positive outcome.
Using conflict is truly about blending skills and attitude about the conflict that exists in our everyday lives. It is about an approach towards building skills and life experiences that help us when faced with similar obstacles or situations. We can see conflict as a source of something with great potential for learning and growth in relationships and in life.
In order to use conflict, we must understand that it is both positive and negative. We’re all familiar with negative conflict. It can:
¨ Create more conflict.
¨ Eliminate “response ability.”
¨ Create physiological responses that impede our ability to make sound, cognitive, logical decisions.
¨ Sabotage decision making.
¨ Undermine creativity.
¨ Re-emphasize our past poor decision making.
¨ Trigger our default behavior that creates more conflict.
¨ Cause anxiety, mental and physical stress and/or sickness.
¨ Annihilate respect and trust.
¨ Impede our ability to move forward internally or with others.
¨ Create war.
Positive conflict, however, may often be the only way to proactively deal with issues that people or groups need to have addressed. Conflict can be the beginning of a great thing or the ending of something that needs closure. It can:
¨ Be the start to something new.
¨ Initiate change.
¨ Be the end to something that needs closure.
¨ Positively redirect something off track.
¨ Use diversity.
¨ Promote understanding.
¨ Support dialogue.
¨ Enlighten someone that is unaware of a problem.
¨ Be the start of something unexpected.
¨ Become a life-long learning opportunity.
¨ Foster self-esteem.
¨ Reinforce our current abilities, strengths or contributions.
¨ Help work to ensure life-long happiness.
But even though it is positive, it may not be easy or painless to manage. Creating a mentality that promotes using conflict will help to avoid the costly and difficult by-product of negative conflict.
When doing your best, don’t discount how much good can come from positively managing the conflict in your life that is bound to happen…seemingly more and more.
Keep your head up, stay positive and have a great day!
Much love,
Dave
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