Striking two stones creates friction, and that leads to generation of fire. Stones are lifeless, with no sentiments or emotions (I have on the plane of religion a very different view, though). So, if the clash of lifeless objects kindles fire, it is quite understandable, if two humans, with warm blood gushing in their veins, alongside the ever brimming ocean of emotions, will unleash nuclear charged reactions, if they were to strike against each other. The strike I am referring to is not physical engagement, but clash of opinion, thought and ideas.
Striking two stones creates friction, and that leads to generation of fire. Stones are lifeless, with no sentiments or emotions (I have on the plane of religion a very different view, though). So, if the clash of lifeless objects kindles fire, it is quite understandable, if two humans, with warm blood gushing in their veins, alongside the ever brimming ocean of emotions, will unleash nuclear charged reactions, if they were to strike against each other. The strike I am referring to is not physical engagement, but clash of opinion, thought and ideas.
Man is blessed with amazing capabilities. He can swing from extreme form of humanness to base animal instincts. He can be a saint. He can be the satanic force. This oscillation between extremes is guided and controlled by what is fed to the inner person (the invisible to others), starting from the days of infancy to arrival at any workstation. In this journey, an individual picks up experience, which can either be lethally negative or can be massively positive. Our response to everyday situations at our workplace indicates, without broadcast or publication, where does our inner person reside; in the negative or positive zone of thought and action.
In every human interaction, there is likelihood of noise, with all of its unpleasant connotations. Each person is an island to himself, with unique strengths of skills and talent; it is the job of the manager to glue together these individual units of energy, to take them towards the accomplishment of organisational goals and objectives. Here, the major assumption is that the manager is free of fear and insecurities; is not beset himself with fear of other people’s competencies. I have witnessed many a weak and incompetent supervisors who remained always seized with anxiety of thier own inadequacies, than focusing on relying on more capable team mates. If such insecurity is not the state of mind, only then can a manager ensure that no seeds of discord are planted in the organisation.
Many supervisors lack adequate knowledge, skill and talent, to progress any further, resort to embarking on undoing the team mates. It is never about their strength: it is about the weakness of other colleagues. In such environment of corporate culture there is available to the incompetent, a climate suited for sowing the seeds of discord, between different levels of hierarchy. The harvest of which is only self fulfilling and primarily to the peril of the institution.
‘Politics’ at workplace is conducive to emergence of discord. Politics is certainly not an exclusive domain of ‘professional politicians’. At the corporate level, politics would define itself through the various actions and movements, undertaken by any individual, for grasping and acquiring ‘power’. In a company, power would mean the ability to either do by ownself or have influence over others, to commit any illegitimate actions for exploiting the vulnerabilities of others.
Rarely, do we witness corporate politics that has nobility in its grounding; invariably it is dirt laced with malafide intentions. Political managers/supervisors essentially are delusional. Ethics or morality have never been in friendship with the concept of politics.
In the management of human resources (people) there is no room for antics of ‘tit for tat’. The primal logic of tackling aggressive behavior with an equally explosive response is not a path to pursue. Enlightened managers do not further the cause of conflict between teams and team members, instead they crush the attitude of resistance for creation of harmonic forces. This is done with no proclamations, but with serene subtlety.
Every person’s greatest enemy is always within him/her. External foes are easy to handle. The wolf inside is the most difficult to tame. Many of us make ourselves victim through repulsive internal conversations. We imaginatively talk to ourselves about relationship with others, mostly with a negative bent of mind. The unsaid word then starts to dominate on external behavior. Conflict management demands that we keep our internal conversations under tight leash and not let them fly off the handle.
Intelligent supervisors while resolving issues between colleagues consciously avoid finger pointing; they do not get angry, they aren’t tense; they do not let the ego go off the track to dominate the issue and more significantly they never raise their voice. They train themselves to welcome acrimony with unlimited goodwill. Most issue of conflicts have relationship to the past; the dominance of the past needs to be negated with positive emphasis of the present and now. Many of us are afflicted with this curable deficiency of carrying forward today's issues of differing opinions into tomorrow. By this single act we despoil our future.
There is a Biblical proverb that reads, “he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city”. Anger is the greatest enemy of man and when it appears, it is very ugly to look at. Those supervisors, who allow their minds to be fuelled by anger, normally perish in their self-lit fire. They do not make good leaders. Anger drives wisdom out of the argument. A disturbed manager is invariably ill at ease. Conflicts are mostly about unsuitable things. Usually not worthy to stand for. Managers who are pacifists and avoid treading the path of conflict are conciliators, who deploy compassion to douse internal and external files. Restraint is the most powerful tool. Incitement to conflict is worse than being a participant to it.
Great leaders possess the ability to resolve conflict between warning individuals or departments through empathy - by placing themselves into the shoes of the recipient of the political trickering. In a review of a book on nuclear energy JF Kennedy wrote “keep strong, if possible. In any case keep cool. Have unlimited patience. Never corner an opponent and always assist him to save face. Avoid self-righteousness like the devil nothing is so self- blinding”.
What a perfect recipe for conflict resolution between oneself and the team and also within the team members.
In handling issues of self conflict at the management level, I have relied heavily upon Alfred Tennyson words, “Two aged men, that had been foes for life, met by a grave, and wept -- and in those tears they washed away the memory of their strife; Then wept again the loss of all those years”. Conflict - before it raises head, must be nipped in the bud. Bury the conflict before burial of thy self; so that the casket contains only the physical self and no burdensome regrets.
The writer is a senior banker and freelance columnist
