Page 98 - my SUCCESS! my CHOICE

Deepak Gupta my SUCCESS! my CHOICE
- 97 -

‘Does not look Tom took anything out of our discussion – he missed all important lessons on effective

communication, influencing and conflict management. He looked so engaged and eager to practice his new

learnings when we were discussing. What has happened? He was looking good till Rob asked that question.

And then all was lost. Why?’

Dan had to intervene 10 minutes later as Tom and Rob were still at it.

“Guys. I suggest that you two take it offline and engage me if required, but I want you to

resolve this conflict by yourselves. Can I expect that? Dan asked and continued when they

both nodded.”

“As we have already covered all agenda topics and still have some time available, I want to

share with you an important learning – Conflict Management. We may probably overshoot

our original scheduled time by 30; is everyone OK with that?” They all nodded.

Dan chose to talk conflict management deliberately. There were several reasons. First, apart

from the behavior of Tom and Rob in the meeting, he believed that his team lacked this skill,

including him! Second, he figured that as conflict management requires almost all his new

skills, this will be a great way to share his learnings with the team. Third, he knew that the best

way to learn is by teaching.

He connected his laptop and projected the Conflict Square on the screen.

While staying on the broader subject of conflict management, Dan highlighted the gist of

his learnings of past few weeks. One hour later he concluded, “Conflicts are natural because

we are diverse individuals; there will always be different point of views. The real challenge is