Dealing with conflict is a frequent concern for many organizations. Managers
and supervisors have to deal with conflict on a daily basis. Many times conflict
happens when people see situations differently. Often the potential conflict
can be defused by understanding the other person’s point of view.
Much has been written on different personality or behavioral styles. One
of the most popular seminars AchieveMax®
offers is
Understanding Personal Behavioral Styles. A very positive way to deal
with conflicts is to gain an understanding of the four different behavioral
styles.
For example, some people are the no-nonsense, get-the-job-done type. To
them, the most important thing is the task. They like to take decisive action
and take pride in a job well done.
Other people are more focused on people relationships. They see work more
from a team viewpoint. They want people to get along with one another and
support each other.
When a no-nonsense type of person supervises a relationship type person,
there is the potential for conflict. The get-the-job-done supervisor will
get more work accomplished from the relationship type person if the supervisor
allows for freedom to interact with others. By actively listening to the employee’s
concerns, the get-the-job-done supervisor will obtain greater productivity
and respect.
The other two styles are the think-about-the-details type person and the
enthusiastic adaptive type person. The think-about-the-details type person
likes to think things through and dislikes being rushed to get something done.
After all, they want to do a quality job. The think-about-the-details type
person also prefers to do work in a step-by-step way.
Can you imagine what kind of conflict a get-the-job-done supervisor would
get into with a think-about-the-details type person if the supervisor didn’t
respond appropriately to their style? The get-the-job-done supervisor probably
may have greater success with the enthusiastic adaptive type person. The enthusiastic
adaptive type person tends to react immediately and adapt to different work
experiences as long as they are interesting and motivational. By understanding
the other person’s point of view, managers and supervisors will have a more
productive work environment.
Jeffrey W. Drake, Ph.D., is a professional speaker
and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a firm
specializing in custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting
services. Jeff has made presentations ranging from leadership to empowered
teams and project management to communication styles for a number of industries,
including education, financial, government, healthcare, and manufacturing. For more information on Jeff's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.
Publication
Date: Winter 2001
