Today we’re going to explore the final step in getting the maximum value from organizational conflict and tension:

5.  Celebrate the Win!

This is the easiest part, yet it is often overlooked, especially in our hard-driving organizations.  But this is the part where you get to celebrate what God did through your little work group.  Consider the following four questions:

• What concrete benefits have we experienced? Hopefully the solution itself brought positive results, but don’t overlook the increased sense of teamwork, trust and interdependence that may have developed as you worked together.  Store memories of working with those people for future endeavors.
• What lessons did you learn? Often the most powerful lessons we learn come not from a great book, but instead from our own experiences.  Take time to inventory the lessons that you and others learned from this.  You may have learned lessons about people, preference, policies, procedure or protocol.  Capture it all and write it down.
• Who contributed to the win? Make a note of EVERYONE who contributed in any way and make sure they participate in the celebration.  We all love to be encouraged and we want to be part of a winning team.  Praising them (especially publicly) for a job well done is so important.  It’s an investment of time that you want to make EVERY TIME.  Make sure that leaders at the highest level of your organization know that these folks are lighting it up!
• Did you praise God for giving you the opportunity? God blesses us with an opportunity for leadership influence.  He could’ve given that to anyone, but He gave it to us.  He called us to step into this organizational conflict or tension, and He worked through us to bring out the very best.  God, you rock!

Today we’re going to explore the next step in squeezing great stuff out of organizational tension:

4.  Drive the Implementation

It is so sad to see a lot of great energy go into creating a killer solution, only to watch it fail miserably because of poor implementation.  A great solution deserves great implementation.  Implementation is a detail-rich activity and requires detail-minded people to drive it.  Consider the following three questions as you plan your work and work your plan:

• Do you have a clear plan in mind? I define a clear plan as one that spells out the what (deliverables), who (contributors) and when (target dates) for all key milestones.  This must be at a granular enough level to actually be able to assess your progress against your plan.  As you develop this, make sure that you take into account other things that are taking place in your organization during that timeframe.  Most organizations can only absorb a certain amount of change at any given time.
• Do you have a commitment of all necessary resources? Implementation of solutions often requires an additional commitment of organizational resources.  It may be staff, finances, physical space, time, training, volunteers, or focus.  A lack of commitment for the necessary resources can be an immediate showstopper.  Make sure you’re working with the right people to help them understand the vision.
• Are you managing the transition as well as you are managing the change? One of the best books I’ve read on change management is Managing Transitions: Making The Most Of Change. Author William Bridges does a great job of drawing the differences between change and transition.  The best changes often are unsuccessful because organizations failed to manage the transitions that human beings must make emotionally to embrace the change.  This is a must read for anyone who deals with organizational change (that means you, just in case you were wondering).  The more people that are impacted by the changes, the more intentional you need to be about managing the transition.

I wrap up this series tomorrow with step five:  Celebrate the Win!

Today we’re going to explore the next step in reaping the most out of organizational conflict and tension:

3.  Gain Consensus on Guiding Principles

One of the most common mistakes that I see repeated over and over is that leaders try to just rush into designing solutions without first determining the criteria by which any proposed solution would be evaluated.  This is the meat of determining what is and isn’t negotiable.  While it’s important to identify what is negotiable to the participants, it’s far more important to identify what isn’t.  That absolutely must be the starting point.  As you lead your group through gaining consensus on the principles that will guide you, consider the following four questions:

• What are our objectives? Sometimes the discussion about objectives can be the most eye-opening and fruitful times of discovery for a work group.  As everyone shares their perspective, make note of the needs and wants (there is a difference) of each person.  The needs ultimately translate into the non-negotiables for them.
• What values will be central to any solution? Every organization is different, but each and every one has values that drive what they do.  These may or may not be written down, but everybody who is part of that organization knows what they are.  As the leader of this problem-solving team, you need to know what values will be of primary importance for those involved.  For instance, The Chapel places a high value on being sensitive to seekers at our weekend services.  That will always be a filter through which we will look at decisions regarding those services.  You need to know which filters apply to your situation.
• What approaches might work? Given the agreed-upon objectives and values, some brainstorming around tactical approaches is needed.  In my experience, people either love or hate brainstorming.  This is the point where creativity and innovation are needed, so those who hate brainstorming need to either leave the room or talk themselves into just playing along for a bit.  Nothing will bring creativity crashing down faster than the person who has 20 reasons why each idea won’t work.  Quiet that person – duct tape works nicely.  After a time of brainstorming, you’re going to have to pick a path.  Your work group, which should now be operating as a cohesive team under your capable leadership, will know the best approach.
• What support will be necessary? Now that you know how you want to go about solving this problem, you need to make sure that you have the proper support.  If you’ve assembled the right team, those who need to support the chosen solution are already involved and on board.  Determine who will need to play what role.  Who is going to do what in support of the new solution?  Many great solutions fail between decision and implementation because it was assumed that everyone knew what the next steps were supposed to be.

Coming up tomorrow is step four:  Drive the Implementation

The next step in harvesting the very best out of organizational tension is:

2.  Assemble the Right People

We must have the right people involved if we’re going to come up with a killer solution that will be widely owned and broadly adopted.  In my experience, a group of  3-8 people is about right.  Less than that and it’s likely more of a personal issue between you and one other person, rather than an organizational one.  More that than and it’s hard to get anything done.  With that in mind, who are the right people to speak into this?  Consider the following four questions as you determine whom to invite to the table:

• Who best represents the functional areas impacted by this issue? I usually look for the person who is directly impacted the most, and invite them to participate.  In my work place, many issues impact the Campus Pastors, but it isn’t practical to invite them all to participate in most problem solving scenarios.  I’ll pick the one who is most impacted.
• Who are the creative problem solvers? Creativity is important because if tried and true methods would have worked, we most likely would’ve already done that.   We need fresh thinking and innovation from those willing to question everything.
• Who are the positive people? Nobody benefits when negative people drag down the group.  I’m not suggesting that you go without critical thinkers who will ask the tough questions about “How are we going to do that?”  I’m only saying that if we always let that question stop us from exploration, we’ll never go anywhere.  Make sure you include some dreamers.
• Who are the decision makers? There are two ways to do this.  You can have the actual decision makers in the room so that you can make a firm call and move forward.  This has the benefit of immediate buy-in, but often it takes a lot more time to get on their calendars in the first place.  Another approach, one I often opt for, is to get the functional representatives together with the idea of developing a proposal, which will be presented to the higher level decision makers at a later date.

Tomorrow I’ll tackle step three:  Gain Consensus on Guiding Principles.

A few days ago, I wrote about the benefits of organizational tension.  I proposed that our best leadership move is not to avoid the conflict or tension, or even resolve it, but instead to thrive in the midst of it.  I’ve had a lot of good feedback and interest in that proposition, with great questions about how to harvest all the potential benefits.  So, I’m feeling led by God to really flesh this out.  I’m spending all week fleshing out the five steps to harvesting the most out of organizational tension.  This will work in any organization, and is certainly not limited to churches.  As you read this, I want to encourage you to do two things:  1.  Think of an area of conflict or tension in your current environment; and 2.  Think of one other person you’d like to teach whatever you learn this week.

OK, being a big fan of starting at the beginning, let’s tackle step one today:

1.  Take the Lead

Let’s face it, none of us like conflict and tension.  (and those who like it aren’t usually the ones you want leading…)  But if there are so many great opportunities hidden in that conflict, it’s going to take a good leader to dig it out.  Maybe that’s you.  Here are four great questions that can help you identify if you’re the right person to take point.

• Can you clearly identify the issues? You need to have a pretty good idea what’s going on, not only from your perspective, but also from others who are involved or impacted.  This is not easy and it takes intentionality, an open mind and the willingness to do more listening than talking.  If you’ve got an insightful bead on a really important issue, you might be the right leader.
• Is this need worth your time and energy? We all have plenty to do, and rarely are any of us looking for more to do.  We must count the costs and see if this is worth investing our time and energy.  If you just can’t get it out of your head and your heart longs to solve this problem, you might be the right leader.
• Do you have or can you gain the necessary organizational influence? If complex problems could be solved without consensus, they’d likely already be solved.  Your relationships with others in your team are either going to open or close the doors of communication that will be necessary.  If you’ve got strong relationships with the stakeholders built upon trust and mutual trust, you might be the right leader.
• Do you have the discipline to see this through to resolution? Many people might want to lead, but desire does not equate to discipline.  It’s going to take hard work and perseverance to see it through.  If you have a track record of being able to assemble the right people, gain consensus upon a set of guiding principles, manage a successful implementation of the agreed upon solution, and help the team celebrate the win, you might be the right leader.

Tomorrow I’ll tackle step two:  Assemble the Right People.

One of the greatest challenges that came from our church going multi-site a few years ago was the organizational tension.  When we moved from a traditional hierarchy to a matrix organizational structure, we positioned ourselves for rapid growth.  But with that came confusion and even some tension.  We now have a great Central Support area that is responsible for DNA, curriculum, coaching, standards, procedures, etc.  We also have great Campus Teams that are responsible for relationships and all manners of ministry execution.  This separation of duties works like a charm, except when it doesn’t.

But sometimes it doesn’t work perfectly.  The Central Support staffers have their ideas, believe they know what is best, and fight passionately for maximum influence over ministry decisions.  The Campus Team staffers have their ideas, believe they know what is best, and fight passionately for maximum influence over ministry decisions.  You see where this is going.  Conflict is inevitable, normal even.

In my role, one of the most frequent requests I get is to help clarify which side gets to make the call.  “Who gets the final call on whether a video gets shown?”  “Who gets to decide whether the offering is before or after the message?” “Should our monthly Worship and Communion service be centrally programmed or owned by each campus?”  The subject matter changes, but all these questions are seeking to ask the same general question – “Do I have the authority to make a decision that won’t be challenged or changed?”  It makes a lot of sense.  What folks want is to avoid organizational and relational conflict.  They believe that if a particular decision becomes a black or white matter, with unquestionable lines of authority, then conflict will be avoided.

While that’s sometimes true, most often it’s not.  Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury to live in black and white.  So very little fits into those two extremes.  Instead, I live almost exclusively in the gray, where there is no easy answer.  After all, if it was straightforward, it probably wouldn’t be making its way to me in the first place.

But let me put forth a radical thought – what if our best leadership move is not to avoid the conflict, or even resolve it, but instead to thrive in the midst of it?  If we depend solely upon organizational authority in figuring out the best course of action, we might miss the collaboration that comes out of constructive conflict.  Tensions that arise from the authentic and passionate difference of opinions is not an enemy to an organization.  Instead, those tensions can be our greatest source of innovation, collaboration, trust, and interdependence. When our Central and Campus teams work together toward a common goal, God always shows up.  We get killer solutions, but we also experience genuine Christian community.  And it doesn’t get any better than that.

Our world is not becoming more black and white, only more gray.  If we are going to lead effectively, we need to not only accept the gray, but embrace it with all we have.

Are there areas you lead that are prone to conflict and could those tensions actually benefit your organization?