I have been told by close friends that I walk towards conflict. I don’t think that is accurate. What is accurate is that I have learned not to avoid conflict. In my experience every time I avoid conflict it seems to comes back and because I avoided it the first time, when it comes back it’s ugly.
So I like to say that I am willing to have conflict with another person. There are tricks to having a successful conflict, here are my rules.
- – Listen to the other persons side, even question them to fully understand what they are thinking.
- – Always thank them for explaining their point of view.
- – Truly try to see where this person is coming from.
- – When you finally get to say what you are thinking, make it about yourself, say things like.
“It might just be me” “I see what you are saying, but try to see what I see”
Then when the conflict is over, take a long hot shower it will wash away the stress.