“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” It’s not often that a quote from the renaissance man that is Eminem bears any relevance to life in local government, but this phrase rings true for many in local government.
We’ve spoken before about the difficulties of knowing when to stand up for yourself, when (to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln) you need to find somewhere solid to stand and plant your feet firmly and when a little more consensus and apathy might be a better course of action.
That being said, conflict in the workplace is a much maligned and misunderstood beast. Most of us being flock animals are people who want to run with the crowd and who like to be liked. Few revel in being hated and reviled, although most of us can put up with some mild dislike from time to time. For the majority however it’s an easyish life we are after.
The underlying issue being avoided is that of conflict. Most people labour under the impression that conflict is always negative, and are more than able to reel off countless examples of fights, arguments and disagreements which turned sour. Whether personal or professional, all of this conflict has ended up creating a sense of negativity and disappointing outcomes.
What’s more difficult is to ask people to think of times when conflict has actually been helpful. (more…)
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