It's Alright to Fight

This must be my week for gifts of inspiration. This gem comes from another Washington area coach: Bruce Ervin Wood. Brings to mind the Abraham Lincoln example of "A Team of Rivals:"

Adapted from Blues Ain’t Nothing But a Good Soul Feeling Bad

By Sheldon Kopp

March 14

Some people assume that when a co-workers argue, their ability to get their job done is impaired. Paradoxically, it is often when teams don’t argue that people are startled to learn that a key player decides to resign. “How could that be?” those who remain wonder. “We never said a cross word to each other.”

It’s hard enough to live with conflict within ourselves. How much more difficult is it to work with someone without expressing the dissatisfaction with our differences, arguing them out whenever possible, and negotiating when we cannot convince the other that our way is best?

A working relationship untested by open conflict cannot be trusted. Beneath the surface of calm of seeming accord is the simmering turbulence of uncertainty about whether or about whether the team would smoothly function if we were open about unstated conflicts.

Anyone worth working with is worth fighting with.

Bruce Ervin Wood, SPHR, PCC