Introduction
This week’s first of two MSLD520 blogs is about
conflict resolution. Conflict resolution is an area that I work very diligently
on and take a lot of pride in finding win-win solutions for both sides. Monday,
Jan 19 was a day I will not soon forget. I felt I had lost a conflict with a
co-worker because of the circumstances involved, but at the end of the day I
believe the outcome will be a win-win for both sides.
Conflict Background
I am the lead technical writer for the Fault
Isolation Procedure team for the advanced aircraft group. I have two other
writers currently in the group. One is young and the other a very seasoned
veteran. Let’s call them Larry (young) and Albert (veteran). Albert is a very
good writer, but sometimes has difficulty dealing with ambiguity and having to
dig to find information. The Wiring Diagram technical writing team currently
has a lead and one writer. Let’s call them Jack (lead) and Fred (writer). About
a month ago Fred was hired on to help Jack and shortly after Fred was hired our
manager mentioned to me while passing me in the hallway that Fred had fault
isolation writing experience. He also stated Fred was interested in overtime
hours to help out our team. I told my manager I would speak with Fred to find
out more information.
The next day Fred and I spoke about his fault
isolation experience and I was pleasantly surprised at how passionate he was
about writing fault isolation procedures. He seemed to have the right skill
set, but most of all he had just the attitude I was looking for. “Success in
today’s market place mean’s having a skilled workforce that is passionately
committed to delighting the customers of the organization and then catalyzing
those customers to share their surprise and delight with other customers”. (Denning,
2011, p. 119). I’ll never forget when I worked at Southwest Airlines how they
hired more on attitude than the details of your resume, so Fred’s attitude
stuck in my mind. I told Fred after our conversation that there would be plenty
of opportunity in the future for him to work with us and that he would just
need to have a little patience. That was Friday of last week.
Conflict
Brews
Monday started just like any other Monday. Our
Monday standup with our Manager started just as it always does, 0700 sharp.
After the meeting ended I made the short walk back to my desk, Jack greeting me
from behind for getting to my chair “So you want to do a swap!”, As I turned
around my mind raced for a good response (Jack has been known to be a pot
stirrer and an equivalent of a 21st Century snake oil salesman) “Who said
anything about a swap?” I denied, and rightfully so, any involvement with
presenting an idea of a swap of personnel to anyone. Jack continued “Well you
know Albert (the veteran) knows how to do wiring diagrams and Fred knows how to
do fault isolation. Fred is struggling a bit to learn wiring and he already
knows fault isolation.” My mind was working a thousand miles an hour once again
looking for a good response “Well I know Fred has experience with fault
isolation and I like his attitude, but I never considered a swap Jack…if I were
interested we would need to speak to our manager and gets his approval”. Fred
wasted no time whacking me across the face with “I already did and he said whatever
we decided was okay”. I should have anticipated that response but he caught me
off guard…hell I hadn’t even had time to have a cup of coffee yet!
Personal
History with Jack
Jack and I have some history. About 5 years ago
Jack was struggling to meet his production schedule and at the time I was
enjoying a bit of a cushion so I gave him one of my new writers for what was
supposed to be three months. I ended up never getting him back and this person
ended up getting fired because Jack wouldn’t stick up for him. I contend to
this day it was not the writer’s fault and that it was miscommunication and
poor memories that got him fired. In addition, shortly thereafter, Jack
instigated a conflict with one of my writers who we think had a mild form of
autism. Great writer, but sometimes he was socially challenged and he even
admitted as much. We looked after him and provided him support. The day Jack instigated
the conflict with him I was away and when I returned my writer had already been
sent home by the manager. Apparently he had responded to an email Jack sent to
him in an inappropriate way and Jack complained to the manager, so the manager
sent my writer home. To make a long story short my writer ended up quitting the
company because management wouldn’t give my writer any slack on the issue (so
my writer contends anyway). So now you understand the history between Jack and
I and why I am cautious in dealing with him.
Conflict
Surfaces
So Jack’s proposal needed more consideration…Fred
seemed like he would be a great fit, but I would be losing a productive writer
and possibly several months of higher production rates if I were to make a
straight up trade. So I countered Jack’s proposal “Tell you what Jack, let me
test Fred for a week just to make sure he works out and if he does then we’ll
make the trade.” Jack wasn’t having any of that! “Are you kidding? No deal…why
do you need both Fred and Albert?” The answer was not a hard one “Well, because
I can’t afford to lose Albert for a week. You saw how busy this month is going
to be for my team in the meeting this morning” Jack’s reply was not surprising “You
think you’re the only one busy this month!” I wasn’t going to get corned and pummeled
and by this bully. I needed more time to think this through. Jack was good at
bullying people into decisions and I wasn’t going to have any of that. I
responded firmly “Jack tell you what…let me think it over and I’ll get back to
you this afternoon.” He continued carrying on and I repeated myself until he
retreated.
Intermission
I went back to work and forgot about our
conversation until lunch time. During lunch I thought through the problem. I
reflected on what I had learned in MSLD 521 and negotiations. “ Before you
actually meet the opposing side, you need to figure out what outcome you want
most, what would be less satisfactory but still acceptable, and what constitutes
the worst deal you’d accept.” (McKay, Davis & Fanning, 2007, p. 174). I
hadn’t had a chance to figure out what outcome that would be less satisfactory
but still acceptable. I had been ambushed from behind and under constant fire
without much opportunity to critically think through the problem…then it dawned
on me that was probably Jack’s strategy. Hit me hard and force me into a decision
that was most favorable to him. Hah! Now I really felt like I did the smart
thing by delaying the decision.
After weighing the options I realized that I had
already won a concession from Jack and that was instead of doing a straight one
for one swap like he originally proposed, I was going to get to test drive Fred
for a week before making the purchase. The only thing he didn’t agree to was me
keeping Albert during that time. So then I thought…okay so what is the real
ramification of losing his production for a week if it doesn’t work out? Albert
was starting a new project and typically it takes a week of research before the
writing process begins, so on paper his lost production for the month since it
is the last week of January anyway would not be all that significant.
Conflict Resolution
I called Jack back over to my area “Jack, I’m
ready to make a deal”. Jack was eager to hear what I was going to propose “Jack,
I got to thinking it is not going to have significant impact losing Albert for
a week, so let’s go ahead and do the swap for a week and see how things work
out before we make this a permanent deal” Jack was in agreement “Sound good
Eric, I knew you’d come around.” My reply was confident and careful “I have
little doubt it won’t work out, but this is the prudent way to go about this
and it really is potentially a big win for both the wiring and fault isolation.”
Jack agreed and we began working on a draft training plan for this coming week.
Conclusion
Because Jack and I were able to settle our
conflict on how we should do the swap we will be increasing the morale of two
people in our department. In addition to allowing Fred to do something he is
very passionate about and placing Albert in a situation where there is less
ambiguity, it increases the flexibility our department will have in that we’ll
have some interchangeable pieces to react to shifting workload. Hopefully the
other writing teams will take notice and fault isolation and the wiring group
cross-training effort will spread.
References:
Denning, S. (2011). The leader's
guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative.
San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.
McKay, M., Davis, M. & Fanning, P. (2009). Messages: The communication skills book. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger
Publications, Inc.
