Conflict

It’s an event when you are trying to build something larger than yourself. You will have disagreements with your team, partners, clients and vendors. You will have to learn to deal with it each time. You will take it personally. The challenge is you should avoid doing it.

Your friend here is thinking objectively. You do it with an open mind, considering the facts rather than your personal feelings. It needs a lot of practice because each conflict can sound like an attack. You have to zoom out of the situation to a 30000 feet world view and look at it long-term. Getting into the fight to win the debate will not be productive.

One of the techniques I like to use is to create a list of 5-7 questions and ask the other person to answer them to me via email. It allows us to slow the thinking process. It usually takes a day for anyone to reply, and If they reply within hours. You can take time to discuss it. You must take more than 24-48 hours to get back.

Jeff Bezos Uses the ‘Disagree and Commit’ Rule to Overcome an Uncomfortable Truth About Teamwork and helps avoid the dreaded ‘meeting after the meeting.’