Loyola Greyhound Leadership Academy Thursday Email - Conflict Resolution

Hello and welcome to the Loyola Greyhound Leadership Academy Thursday Email


In Chapter 10 of The Team Captain’s Leadership Manual, there are two things I wanted to share that are vital for your team’s success.

They are - Six Steps for Resolving Conflicts and Ten Tips for Constructive Conflict.

 In this week’s email, let’s take a look at the six steps for resolving conflict.

Many times having a framework to have a discussion helps move things along and sets up a method to get through difficult times.

Jeff Janssen lays out the following six steps for resolving conflict –

1) Define the problem
2) Brainstorm possible solutions
3) Evaluate the possible solutions
4) Decide on a solution
5) Implement the solution
6) Evaluate the success of the solution

Before you can resolve a problem, you really need to understand or define what the problem or conflict is. Many times things bubble under the surface only to rear themselves usually at hard times during the season. Maybe it appears or intensifies after a difficult loss or after some negative that might have happened off the field.

By defining the problem and really making sure everyone knows about it and how it has manifested itself in the locker room or in practice is the first step to getting to the solution. And you will learn that as a leader defining and dealing with problems comes with the mantle of leadership.

Leaders build consensus.

By getting people to brainstorm, evaluate and decide on possible solutions to the problem, you as a leader help to get your teammates bought into the solution and its implementation. Sometimes this implementation of the solution is where the leader really earns the respect of teammates and coaches. Being a leader means you make tough decisions and you have to back the decisions up with action. An after the solution is implemented to bring this process full circle, you need to review the solution and determine if it was the right decision.

This is analogous to watching game film, how did that new play work?

There are many levels of conflict and the best way to deal with them is to not let them fester and grow. Leaders need to recognize when there are issues that need to be dealt with and they need to act to resolve the issues.

There are many times that the leader does this without having to go to the next level. Has your coach given you the ability to deal with conflict? Talk to your coach about this and see what ideas they have. 

Thanks for reading the Leadership Email - Have a great evening… https://plus.google.com/106554644781305721427/posts/eFG4kCefm6W