Better Business Through Conflict...

You have to be able to disagree.

This concept is more important to your business than you can imagine. You cannot do everything you want for your practice alone. You need a team around you. Whether you pay the team members is a different story. In this case your team is not just you and your employees...it may consist of mentors, coaches, directors, employees, family members, patients, etc. These are your stakeholders; people who have a interest in you keeping your doors open.

One of the many things involved in building a great team is conflict. It HAS to happen. But there's a certain stigma attached to disagreement. We tend to think it has to involve uncomfortable confrontation, where negative emotion is invoked and expressed and things taken personally. This is something that should not be done. Little if nothing will happen to benefit your business when negative emotions are expressed.

The key to building a great team is to learn how to deal with the differences each team member brings to the table and harness those differences to grow.

Couple of things to watch for:

Expect to Disagree - you must get used to challenging people on the ideas they bring to the business. Not in a manner that inhibits their creativity, but in a way to explore the ideas they bring. Probe the idea so that it can be fleshed out. Make sure the idea you bring has facts and logic and you can back it up.

Put Emotion Away - everyone needs to see that different ideas aren't stifled by other people. Confronting differences isn't a personal attack, but rather an attempt to open up the thought process more...if things get heated, take a break and come back calm and collected.

When Conflicts Arise, Acknowledge Them - this is going to happen, the best thing to do is recognize the conflict out loud, make everyone aware that they need to be of the utmost professionalism, and work it out as a team.

The point: don't be afraid to disagree in the team environment, in fact encourage it! Your business will benefit, creativity and innovation will be enhanced and the team will be stronger, making your business better.