Leadership
How Do We Deal With Conflict and Tough Conversations? By: Dr. Nels Lindberg, Production Animal Consultation
As this fall run comes to a close, we can look back on the issues and problems we have tackled over the past few months. We might have been challenged with keeping our teams motivated daily, dealing with surprise loads of cattle, or handling a customer unhappy over some deads. Maybe a feed truck driver ran over and tore up a bunkline or a water line broke, creating a mud hole the size of Texas. Regardless of the challenges faced, there were likely conflicts along the way. As leaders, we often do one of two things: we either create conflict or avoid it. Many times, we create conflict by being aggressive entrepreneurs and pushing our crews too hard as we grow our businesses. We generate chaos as we shift between ideas and opportunities for growth and we lose focus on what truly matters, which may lead our organizations in the wrong direction. Conflict and problem solving are a normal part of growth, and as leaders we must find a balance between management and entrepreneurship. Under-managing can create excess turmoil in our organizations, while over-managing typically leads to stagnation and limits growth. We can also create conflict by having high expectations of our teams. Most people have faced low expectations their whole life. We must always look to “raise the bar” and set high expectations, or we will never achieve high levels of success. The second challenge we face as leaders is avoiding conflict or tough conversations. This is an issue for most of us,
and I have failed at it many times. But what happens if we have a splinter and we don’t remove it? It only festers. Not addressing the conflict or having the tough conversation only allows the issue to fester. And the worst part is unresolved conflict leads to gossip, which is deadly to all organizations. On the flip side, over-managing in an effort to eliminate all conflict limits growth and the ability to change or adapt, which is also deadly to organizations. Again, we must continually pursue that sweet spot between managing and creating. One of the worst things that we can do as leaders is be part of the conflict. We must have the humility to look at ourselves in the mirror and establish if we are unknowingly participating in the issue. We often participate in conversations with crews or teams that create, magnify, and even explode into conflict. The use of a mirror is very powerful, and we must look into it routinely and ask ourselves if we are participating in the problem. If we are, we must be able to change that answer very quickly, or we will fail in even attempting to lead an organization, especially as we attempt to resolve issues. As we face the issues head on, we must look at the big picture and identify some of the “roots” of the issues. If we created them through our leadership, we need to address the issues with ourselves first and foremost. Then we must take full responsibility with our teams and have an honest conversation with them. Maybe we took on way too many calves and we overwhelmed our teams. Or maybe we hired the wrong mill manager or head cowboy to lead a team. As a side note, pacdvms.com 35
