The Need For Peer Power

by Cynthia Clay, President, NetSpeed Learning Solutions

Unresolved conflict has significant consequences in the workplace. From wasted time to decreased customer satisfaction, these consequences can cripple an organization's success. Perhaps you have experienced some or all of these eleven consequences in your own organizations:

• Wasted time
• Low morale
• Reduced quality
• Missed deadlines
• Need for increased supervision
• Higher stress
• Reduced collaboration
• Decreased customer satisfaction
• Low trust
• Higher turnover of skilled employees
• Absenteeism or "presenteeism"

In CPP's Human Capital Report (2008), 36% of US employees indicated they deal with conflict always or frequently. Of note, 76% of US employees said they went out of their way to avoid the colleague with whom they were in disagreement. Indeed, some organizations report that chronic conflict is a factor in as many as 50% of employee departures. 

As this diagram indicates, conflict has serious repercussions at the individual, team, company and marketplace levels. At the individual level, organizations may experience: 

• Reduced productivity
• Cost to mediate conflict
• Cost to terminate employees
• Inability to retain talent
• Cost to recruit and train replacements

At the team level, add the impact of reduced collaboration, the need for increased supervision, and the potential of missed opportunities. At the company level, organizations begin to experience lost clients, reduced revenue, and the inability to retain skilled managers. Ultimately, organizations experiencing chronic conflict can expect it to negatively impact their reputation in the marketplace.  

By some measures, managers often spend 20 - 40% of their time resolving conflict. Let that fact settle for a moment: a quarter to nearly half of a manager's time may be spent dealing with conflict. The obvious conclusion is that reducing time wasted this way would result in a direct positive impact to the bottom line. Ending unproductive conflict represents the largest reducible cost in many businesses. By some estimates, the return on investment for training that increases employees' skills and confidence in resolving conflict and working with difficult colleagues could be as high as ten times the cost of training.

The need for Peer Power, NetSpeed Learning Solutions' latest skill development program, is clear. Through six, two-hour training sessions you have the ability to develop the communication and conflict resolution skills of managers, supervisors, and individual contributors. Blended with post-class reinforcement tools to ensure the learning sticks, Peer Power may be delivered in the physical or virtual classrooms by your trainers or our trainers.

The Peer Power training program is based on Cynthia Clay and Ray Olitt's insightful book, Peer Power: Transforming Workplace Relationships, to be republished by Jossey-Bass in February 2012. Contact us at info@netspeedlearningsolutions.com to learn more. Or take 45-minutes to view a recorded executive briefing webinar. We'd love to help your organization increase productivity and revenue by reducing the impact of chronic conflict. 

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Winnie the Pooh on Problem Solving

by Roger E. Allen and Stephen D. Allen

Trainer Tips: Handling Contrarians

by Cynthia Clay

Many facilitators have experienced that grumpy class participant who resists exercises or discussions, or the combative learner who tries to "take on" the facilitator to prove her point, or the participant who asks leading questions ("But don't you think that....?") to challenge a piece of information presented. I call these learners "contrarians" because their mode of communication sometimes runs counter to the needs of the class.

As a facilitator in the physical or virtual classroom, how you respond to the class contrarians can make the difference between a collaborative learning experience or an awkward, uncomfortable session that everyone yearns to escape. Here are a few tips to help you through: 

• Remember that you are building a relationship with every person in class. Treat contrarians with respect.
   
• Keep your sense of humor intact. An easy laugh and a willingness to playfully handle a contrarian's challenging comment can relax a stressful situation.
   
• See if you can pinpoint the contrarian's underlying need: Does he want to be recognized as an expert? Does she seem frustrated because she can't use the webinar technology? Does he wish he were back at his desk finishing a project by its deadline? Then acknowledge the underlying need with a positive comment. For example, "You obviously have a lot of experience in this arena," or "For someone new to the webinar world, you're getting a handle on this pretty quickly," or "I know you have a lot on your plate, so let's make sure this session is productive."
   
• Thank contrarians for their insights, questions, and challenging observations with comments like, "That's a great question," or "I've never thought of it that way before," or "That's a good point. Let me capture your thought on the whiteboard."
   
• Allow divergent opinions and encourage thoughtful differences in perspective as a natural aspect of the course.

Contrarians, despite their contrary behavior, usually want to be included in a collaborative, learning community. By drawing them in, instead of shutting them down or pushing them away, you can enrich the learning environment for everyone.