Leaders - Please, Don’t Feed the Goat! Be the GOAT! Manage Conflict.

LEADERS - PLEASE, DON’T FEED THE GOAT! BE THE GOAT! MANAGE CONFLICT.


Huh?  Well, you know goats are known for eating everything!  They are curious, lively animals known to eat grass, trees, and even tin cans and clothing, on occasion.  But, just because they will eat it – it doesn’t mean you should feed it to them.  Outside the farms in office cubicles everywhere in business life, the most frequent kind of goat found is the variety called the scapegoat.  Commonly used in conflict situations, a person or group who is unfairly blamed for the problems of a team.  The appearance of this sometimes elusive animal requires that a group engage in ongoing competition and unending arguments and a leader that avoids conflict, unwilling or unable to step up and move the team forward with a process for resolving the issue.

Why?  Well, sometimes it can be difficult and every leader has a naturally preferred style for approaching conflict - and your preferred style just won’t work in all situations.  No style is good or bad, each has its pros and cons, but each works most effectively in the context of certain conditions.  So effectively managing conflict requires a great deal of self-awareness, the ability to think about the situation you are in, and then the flexibility to adapt your approach to meet the situation and a process for responding effectively.

"For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, and debate." - Margaret Heffernan  

Every team experiences conflict, it’s a normal part of team development and can be healthy when managed appropriately.  Leaders who effectively resolve conflict are the GOAT, "Greatest Of All Time" (Internet Slang.com).   

By Saundra Stroope, 28 September 2015


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