MEDIATION
How to Build and Scale Conflict-Competency in Your Small Business
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here are approximately 400,000 small businesses in British Columbia. Every single one of them will face conflict of one type or another. Yes, conflict will come. If you are a small businessowner, why not build conflict-competency into your business now, in preparation for the conflicts that will definitely come your way.
Small Business and Conflict The British Columbia government defines small business as 50 employees or fewer. The Canadian federal government defines small business as 100 or fewer. As a share of total employment, BC small businesses make up 44 percent of all employment in the province. Over the last 15 years as a workplace consultant and mediator, I’ve helped hundreds of small businesses deal with their conflict issues.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ben Ziegler
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As your business continues to grow, odds are you’ll find it harder and harder to have a close relationship with all your employees the way you did when your business was just you and a handful of employees. With respect to small business and conflict, I’ve observed the following. • W hen you are self-employed, “soft skills” such as effective communications and conflict management are rarely optional. You are your business. You are the face and personality of your business, good and bad. • A s your business adds employees, getting those employees on the same page to work together demands an additional set of skills oriented to communications, collaboration, and team dynamics. • As your business continues to grow, odds are you’ll find it BC Notaries Association
harder and harder to have a close relationship with all your employees the way you did when your business was just you and a handful of employees. To offset that relationship distance, your challenge becomes empowering your employees to make constructive choices on their own and demonstrate conflict competency from within. A healthy workplace culture is vital.
“Culture is what people do when no one is looking.” Herb Kelleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines
Three Strategies to Build and Scale Conflict Competency in Your Small Business Recognizing that your needs change as your business grows, here are three complementary steps/strategies that will help you build conflict competency and gain a strategic advantage in the process.
1. Increase Individual Self-Awareness The most cost-effective way to resolve conflict is to improve a person’s selfVolume 28 Number 2 Summer 2019
