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Don’t Be Afraid of Conflict

As in any organization, when decisions have to be made, there is a high likelihood of conflict, both during the decision-making process and after. However, this likelihood of conflict cannot be a barrier to decision making.

In fact, some conflict is healthy for the decision-making process itself. If you are making the decision alone, getting conflicting opinions and recommendations provides you with alternatives and different thinking. That’s useful. If this decision will be a group consensus process, then conflict within the group is a good thing as well, so long as it is controlled and focused on the decision and not the personal relationships. Again, conflict (disagreement) should be perceived as healthy and not negative.

Don’t fear conflict; encourage it and control it to help you make the decision or allow the group to make a good decision.