Welcome to episode 29 of the Encouragers United Podcast!

Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789, "'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

I would add to that "conflict"-- we are all humans, right-and none of us are perfect- we all are dealing with conflict, some due to our own mistakes and misunderstandings-- while other conflict is caused by the mishaps of others.

According to the report “Workplace Conflict and How Businesses Can Harness It to Thrive,” the following statistics demonstrate how pervasive conflict is in the workplace:

85 percent of employees report dealing with conflict on some level

95% of pastors report conflict in their churches-- 20% of those say it's constant

49 percent of conflict is a result of personality clashes

34 percent of conflict is caused by stress in the workplace

33 percent of conflict is caused by heavy workloads

25 percent of employees have seen conflict result in sickness or absence-- which is estimated to be valued at 359 million dollars per year, or about 385 million work days lost.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  Matt 5:9

Let's dig into this topic today on the Encouragers United Podcast.

Step one:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Phil 2:3,4

Are they more of a "seeker" or an "avoider".  How about you?

Step two:

What are we really conflicting about?

Not all conflict is "relational"

TASK conflict-  disagreeing on the "What"?

PROCESS conflict- disagreeing on the "How"?

POSITIONAL conflict-  disagreeing on "who is in charge here"?

Step three:

Find the common goals and mission!

We must agree on something, right?

Step four:

Resolve to Resolve something!

-Do nothing and keep arguing

-Deal with it directly and talk until we get some progress!

-Defer the decision to someone else, like a higher authority

-Ditch the whole thing, and just quit and leave for a new assignment!

All in all we need to realize that conflict will always be present-- especially with humans.  Conflict resolution is a "muscle" our organizations MUST exercise, and get better using!  Encouragers can be excellent mediators to assist people resolve conflicts.  They are able to see multiple perspectives quickly, and can think fast to bring a common language and camaraderie to the group.  Encouragers hate negativity, and are motivated to see peaceful progress and joy developed within the team.

Encouragement

Positive mental attitude

Enthusiasm, Dreamer, Coach, Mentor, Friend

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