Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/705606
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m J u l y - A u g 2 016 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 1 0 7 lives. Since most of us spend about one-third of our lives at work, these differences commonly spill over into our workplaces. Conflicts occur every day between teams and groups, co-workers, supervisors and direct reports. THE CORE ISSUES There are many workplace situ- ations that can result in conflict. These scenarios usually surface when the "why factor" hasn't been explored. Proactively taking time to ask why a decision or an action is made or an opinion is given can shed light on a person's motivation or behavior. For example, let's imagine two sales managers aren't working together and are barely speaking to each other. During the inquiry session of discovering why this is happening, several organizational issues come to light. The employ- ees bring up lack of clarity around discussing differences. In many cases, actions and decisions should be solely based on facts or evi- dence, but this means the underly- ing emotional experience is often ignored. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EQ) Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize emotions in ourselves, and their effect on oth- ers, through self-awareness, self- management, social awareness (empathy) and relationship man- agement. The goal is to become open-minded enough to adjust in these areas by knowing our own strengths and limitations, as well as sensing others' feelings and respecting their perspective. By doing so, we maximize our per- sonal state of being which, in turn, improves our interactions and rela- tionships. It's particularly important for a manager to be more adept with territory boundaries, using an exam- ple where one has an ongoing rela- tionship with a customer who isn't in his or her territory and the cus- tomer wants to work with him or her anyway. When the sales man- agers have to cover for each other due to vacations or other time off, the notes in the database regard- ing that particular customer are either absent or highly abbreviated and not comprehensible. There are other dynamics that involve the dif- ferent styles and personalities of the two sales managers; however, these become exasperated when organizational parameters or perfor- mance expectations aren't clear. In our fast-paced work environ- ments, taking time to understand what's happening — and why — the inquiry often gets pushed aside for the sake of deadlines, lack of empowerment by one or more of the people involved, top-down authority, and/or deference to an individual who has discomfort with Thanks to All the Great Customers !!!