Leaders See Conflict as Opportunity

            One of the most difficult and challenging problems of life, whether at home, work, or elsewhere is dealing with conflict.  Possessing the character and skill to deal with human differences synergistically, to find solutions where there is chaos is essential to good management and leadership.  In Why Leaders Can’t Lead, Warren Bennis states, “Leaders do not avoid, repress, or deny conflict, but rather see it as an opportunity.”  During the three seasons of The Apprentice, there were many opportunities.

            While there was a lot of conflict during the three seasons, we will only look at a couple examples in this chapter.  The first will be one where a leader with better conflict resolution skills may have been able to turn the tide of the project, and then we will look at three examples of effective conflict management from the show.  The remainder of the chapter will address some conflict resolution strategies that the effective leader will utilize to keep his or her organization running more smoothly.

            The task for episode eleven of the second season was to design an in-store promotional catalog for Levi’s.  As Mosaic’s Project Manager, Wes failed to control Maria, who seemed to take control and disrupt the team.  At one point, Maria yelled at Wes, “Do not get in my fricking face.  I understand.  Back off.”  Wes clearly had difficulty handling conflict, and especially Maria during the task.

            Later, the friction between team members continued.  Sandy and Maria verbally sparred for more than twenty minutes.  During this argument, that was taking precious time and energy away from the task, Wes failed to do anything.  In an interview, Andy felt that Wes should not have let it go on that long and was partially to blame for the twenty-minute fight.

            It was no surprise, that after all the conflict, Mosaic lost the task.  After focusing on the failure to include more “butt shots” in the Levi’s promotional catalog and the fact that the team did not wear Levi’s jeans during their presentation, Wes decided to bring all three of his team members back to the boardroom with him.

            With the four of them out of the room, Trump asked Carolyn and season one winner, Bill Rancic, who was filling in for George, their opinions.  Carolyn felt Wes was sharp, but a bad leader.  She also said that Maria didn’t work well with others.  Bill said that Wes could not control his team and pointed to the long fight between Sandy and Maria as an example.

            When the team returned, Wes stated that he tried to get Maria to speed up, but she told him to back off.  Carolyn replied that if she had an employee who told her to “back off,” that employee would no longer work for her.  Trump thought both of them were horrible, and fired Maria.  Then, stunning the remaining three, he turned to Wes and said, “I have no choice.  Wes, you’re fired also.”

            Wes could not control Maria and handle the conflict she created.  This cost Mosaic the task and cost Wes the job.  Conflict resolution skills and being able to mediate and smooth problems over is incredibly important for successful leadership.  A few of the candidates illustrated this very well, and one went on to become The Apprentice.

During episode four of the third season, Bren illustrated good conflict resolution skills.  As an attorney, Bren is no stranger to conflict and more than likely had some training in ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) somewhere along the way.  It paid off during the filming of the Dove commercial.  One of the actresses needed for the commercial was quite upset at having waited more than two hours for someone from the team to show up and get things rolling.  She was irritated and believed the entire process was being run unprofessionally.  When Erin tried to talk to her, she did not get very far.  Bren stepped up and was able to work with the peeved actress and keep her from walking off the set.  He got her on board with the project and they were to continue and complete their commercial.  Bren’s idea for the commercial may not have been very good, but his conflict resolution skills in dealing with the actress were impressive.

Another leader during season three that resolved conflict better than completing the task was Tara .  Placing more emphasis on the community message of their graffiti advertisement than on the message to sell the Sony Playstation game Gran Turismo 4 was the marketing mistake that led to Tara getting fired at the end of episode six.  However, during the leadership of the task, she showed good conflict resolution skills when Craig and Audrey clashed.  Audrey told Craig to stop bossing her around after Tara had asked Craig to supervise the painting.  Craig went to Tara and threatened to remove Audrey from painting.  Tara then went to Audrey and smoothed things over, enabling the team to get back on task and complete the painting.  While she did not get the marketing task right, Tara did illustrate good leadership qualities by resolving conflict among her team members. 

One of the best illustrations of conflict resolution, or mediation, came in the final show of season two.  Apprentice 2 winner, Kelly, used his mediation skills to resolve a conflict among his team members and lead them toward victory.  During that final episode, Elizabeth believed she had to take a stronger approach with Raj and John or they would walk over her.  She did this by telling them, “guys, I’m not interested in being nice today.  I’m dictator Elizabeth.”  This was not the best approach.  Raj became defensive and shot back, “You’re not my dictator, Elizabeth.”

Kelly listened to them argue over what the problems were for a minute, and then jumped in with, “There’s not a problem.  The only problem is in the feelings that are going on here.”  He told Raj to listen and Elizabeth to stop acting like a dictator.  Kelly stated his goal, to not ever have conflict like that again and to work on communication.  He asked the team to commit to being nicer.  In an interview, Kelly admitted that it felt like a cross between mediation and paddling two kids and telling them to stop fighting.  He told the three, “I need the three of you to work together well.  What I’m asking for is:  each of you has a specialty today, and for you to try to defer to the other one and try to help them out.  Do the best you can right then, and let me know if something feels weird.”  Elizabeth and Raj then began to communicate better with each other and the team was back on track.

In an interview, Raj summed it up well, “I have to give Kelly some credit.  He mediated well.  He understands, to an extent, human beings, and that is a form of leadership.”

Contrast this with Wes, who let his teammates fight, and remain out of control during episode eleven, and it is apparent why Wes was fired after not being able to control Maria and resolve the conflict surrounding the Levi’s task and why Kelly became the second Apprentice.

Resolving Conflict Among the Ranks

            Every leader will be faced with dissention among the ranks at one point or another.  Working with difficult people, and getting people to work together, even when they do not get along, is part of the leader’s responsibilities.  In this next section, we will look at a few strategies to help you do this.

            Dealing with hotheads is never fun.  Hotheads are those that like to fight and often start arguments among your workers.  Usually out of frustration, hotheads turn belligerent when under pressure.  They sometimes provoke quarrels among colleagues even when they are not angry with them.  Just telling them to relax or not to worry usually does not diminish their hostility.  To meet the objective of keeping the team from being disrupted, help hotheads articulate their anger and deal with it constructively so they become more productive.  Establish rules and ensure that you treat all workers the same.  Wait until a hothead’s anger has subdued and then give him an opportunity to discuss the problem and how he thinks he is being exploited and work toward solutions.  Work together and include the person in the solutions.  Do not just be a referee.  Do not side with one or another of two squabbling workers, but enforce the standards for both of them.  If there is a problem with the system, by all means correct it.  If it is just a personality clash, insist they work as part of the team of they will both be gone.  Dealing with hotheads is not fun, but it must be done or you will never be an effective leader.

            Some workers are very talented, but they are also very bossy.  Without authority, they order their peers around.  These people’s domineering and overbearing ways antagonize everyone.  This obviously can create conflict and havoc around the workplace.  The leader’s objective is to salvage the talent and productivity, yet teach them to get along with their peers.  Be sure to give these individuals the recognition they have earned, and challenge them with special projects they want to develop.  Then, coach them on how to talk with people so they will be more well received.  Illustrate the difference between being insultingly offensive and expressing enthusiasm in a way that gets other excited too.  Many times, workers that are bossy and pushy are just trying to get more attention.  With a little work, an effective leader can control maintaining their good attributes while showing them how to play by the rules and treat their cohorts kinder.

            Some troublemakers like to stir up workers and provoke action.  They instigate trouble by saying nasty things, twisting the truth, and creating unnecessary problems.  There are various reasons they do this.  They may be bored, unchallenged, underutilized, or it just may be a mismatch between job and worker.  Regardless of the reason, effective leaders must turn these troublemakers around and help reshape their destructive efforts into productive ones.  If it is a job mismatch, change jobs.  Offer empathy and try to understand the underlying reasons for the troublemaking.  You may offer training courses that will help.  Sometimes giving more control over their own work can reduce mischief.  Do not try and psychoanalyze their behavior, just focus on the results you desire to achieve and move in that direction, while ensuring your personnel policies are fair and equal to everyone.

            Conflict provides and opportunity for leaders to lead.  It is essential that the effective leader studies and utilizes conflict resolution strategies to ensure smooth sailing for the organization.  There are numerous books, tapes and courses to assist leaders with learning these critical skills.  How To Deal With Difficult People by Dr. Rick Brinkman and Dr. Rick Kirschner and Working With Difficult People by Muriel Solomon are two good resources listed in the Bibliography of this book.  If you cannot get along with and lead all kinds of people, you will not be an effective leader.  You must be able to lead even the most difficult people. 

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