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Friday, 09 April 2010 01:00 | Written by VRE Training |

The Inevitability of Conflict
“4 Realities that Turn Negative Energy into Positive Results”

Lee Iacocca once said, “If you put two people in the same room and they always agree, one of them is no longer necessary.” Nothing is more common in the workplace than conflict. According to Viki Ryan, RN, co-author of The Ultimate Medical Manager; Leadership for Results, conflict in the workplace is on the rise as major changes disrupt familiar routines; accelerated expectations require greater job performance, yet the workforce shrinks as a result of changing demographics and work redesign and downsizing. The stress, pressure, and anxiety created by a more demanding environment, reduced resources, and increased expectations with programs such as pay for performance initiatives, serve as a catalyst for more emotional behaviors than most people are prepared to handle. The lack of skilled communication techniques compounds the problem further.
The key to managing conflict in the workplace isn’t about knowing it happens; it is about how we handle it. Albert Einstein said, “You can’t solve a program with the same mindset that creates it.” Herein lays the first step toward improved conflict resolutions skills for your staff -- improving their ability to look at conflict from a different perspective.

Reality #1
Conflict should challenge everyone involved to open their mind and look at things from new angles and perspectives, not just protect their position.

The definition of conflict is a struggle to resist or overcome. In a conflict, as one-person pushes the natural reaction from the other party is to push back with equal or greater force. This push creates a “line-in-the-sand” affect. When a position is being protected, valuable and useful information is being missed. Take a breath and explore more closely what they are presenting. This phrase may take the negative energy completely out of their argument. “I may not be clear on this, help me understand your point.” You may realize they have a viable alternative or even a better way.

Reality #2
Conflict often turns personal, but don’t take it personally.

As a person rants and raves at us, we often get lost in our defense of who we are and completely lose sight of what the conflict is actually about. Regardless of the personal attack, stay focused on the true or real underlying issue. If one says to you, “You are no good scum!” Simply respond, “I’m sorry you feel that way. Have I done something or said something to offend you?” The opposing party will probably explain their attack, apologize for their comment, or just leave because there is no pay off for them when you don’t fight back.

Reality #3
Conflict often starts when one person feels they are all alone in a situation.

Too often people feel like it is them against everything else. They feel everyone and everything is standing between them and doing their job well. Most often, this is a gross misinterpretation of reality. Truth be known, today most people are too busy trying to survive their own responsibilities to invest much time in watching others. To prevent conflict from escalating, try finding some common ground with the person. Phrases such as “I know it seems we are on different sides of the street, but it appears to me we both want to end up at the same place; making certain the patients needs are taken care of. Isn’t that right? What can we do to achieve that result? People need to feel they are connected to some purpose or cause shared by others. In healthcare, the universal common ground should be the patient, and how we can work together to create a better patient outcome.

Reality #4
Conflict is often initiated as the transfer of one person’s bad day to another person.

The need to separate the troubles or challenges of one’s personal life from their business life is common sense that rarely becomes common practice. Co-workers, managers, and visitors to the clinic are often embroiled in tumultuous situations before they arrive at work or for their appointment. The least provocation, perceived intrusion, or interruption can set them off like a Titan Rocket. Retaliation or reacting to their inappropriate behavior with similar inappropriate behavior will serve only to fuel the conflict. It would be far more effective to pause, take a breath, and simply respond in a quiet voice (almost a whisper) – “It looks like you are having a bad day, can I help with anything?” This phrase should turn the situation into one of understanding, instead of it becoming adversarial. Your calm response will shock them into a realization that they are allowing one bad situation to trigger or create more bad situations. In Dr Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he points out that effective people pro-act instead of react when dealing with difficult situations. They spot problems early and solve them before they escalate or become unsolvable. As a healthcare manager, your world is filled with stress and tension and when conflict develops it brings more to an environment that already has enough. The first step to resolution is recognition of the realities of conflict in the workplace. Then and only then can you begin to train yourself and your staff on effective conflict management techniques.

For more information and strategies on conflict resolution buy The Ultimate Medical Manager; Leadership for Results.

Leadership’s Affect on Employee Performance - The 5 Failures

Saturday, 06 March 2010 02:22 | Written by VRE Training |

While an individual’s behavior is always their personal responsibility, influences do happen. In a business environment, any number of elements, including system breakdowns, interruptions, or unpleasant interactions can take place and completely shutdown an employee’s concentration and shift the focus from their task. Some of these situations are beyond the control of employees. Yet, not only is their performance affected but these elements can damage their attitude, willingness, and desire to cooperate. One significant key to employees’ focus is their manager. The manager has both a responsibility and an obligation to their staff to create a productive workplace atmosphere. While managers can’t control their employees’ focus, attitudes, or their behavior, they certainly have influence. Ultimately, the manager’s contribution to reducing or preventing employees from going bad may be of greater value than the skills needed for turning around a bad employee.

There are five things managers fail to do that can damage employee productivity and cause staff to go bad. Don’t fall prey to them.

Fail to have a clear vision of excellence

The old saying states, when the blind leads the blind, they both fall in the ditch. In the absence of leadership with a clear vision of what excellence in performance truly is, employees will make up their own personal standards, follow the next most persuasive voice, or worse yet, the path of least resistance. None of which may be where the leader wants them to go. It is the obligation of the leader to inspire the group to follow them to an excellent outcome. However, in order to do so, the leader must have a specific destination. Otherwise, the staff will wander aimlessly until they all fall in the ditch.

Fail to communicate appropriately

Having a clear vision is only as important as the ability to communicate it. Poor communication skills are the greatest contributor to the difficulties we have with other people. While this is a problem for anyone who encounters another person, it is exceptionally detrimental for a supervisor trying to achieve results through others. Leaders must understand that people receive and decode information in several ways. Some need to hear it, others must see, still others have to interact with it in some way before understanding, and more importantly, learning occurs. Unfortunately, most people treat others like they themselves wish to be treated. On the surface that sounds like an equitable, if not honorable way to behave. The problem occurs when they are different than you. Leaders need to communicate and present information how others prefer to communicate to improve dialogue and understanding.

Fail to transition from a great doer to a great leader

People in healthcare are often promoted to a leadership position in one of three ways. First, they are superstar doers. Second, they are a veteran employee and understand the system well. Third, they may be related to the provider. While these aren’t bad methods to use, they don’t guarantee leadership success. Leadership requires an entirely different skill set than a doer – even a great doer. Leaders derive pleasure from seeing others succeed. They resist the urge and thrills attached to doing and begin to appreciate the value of being a great builder of champions. Angelo Dundee never had a professional boxing match, but he has worked with, developed, and trained many legends of boxing including Muhammad Ali and “Sugar” Ray Leonard. Leaders make the transition from doing to helping others do. Great leaders bring out the best in others through ongoing training, and development.

Fail to handle employee performance problems effectively

One of the great frustrations of managers is dealing with the employee who doesn’t perform at expected levels. Many supervisors respond emotionally, others with avoidance. Leaders recognize that performance problems may have many causes, and need to be addressed quickly. They could be a result of poor training, miscommunication, lack of vision, or personality conflict. Once the root cause of the problem is identified, a great leader involves the employee in the solution, providing the employee with an opportunity for growth and problem-solving skill development.

Fail to live with integrity

People don’t follow people they don’t trust, regardless of the authority level. Trust is paramount to leadership success. The staff expects the supervisor to do what they say they will do at all times and set the example for how things will be handled. While they may not seem important to you;

Telling a staff member you will get them an answer and then you forget
Promising to meet or call a subordinate at a specified time and you don’t.
Taking something from the work area and not returning it promptly,
Chastising a staff member about the same behavior when it affects you

All of these seemingly small moments destroy the trust necessary to lead others to higher performance. If they can’t count on you for the small things, they won’t count on you for the big ones. Another result of your behavior is in its imitation. Remember, people repeat what they see more that what they hear. Be the example they deserve.

When a leader replaces these failings with a clear vision, strong communication skills, encouragement, training and integrity, and they will start to see a positive change from their employees. As the late president of the Mescalero Apache Nation, Wendell Chino said, “You can’t steer the ship of your tribe, if you cannot first steer your own ship.” Every person in a leadership position would be well served to remember this message and commit it to action.