Business Building Corner

Conflict happens in all corners of the workplace. In a nutshell, whenever there is more than one person, there is risk of conflict! Since network marketing is all about nurturing relationships and consistently adding more people to an organization, the opportunity for success is great, but so is the chance that not everyone will get along.

The basic premise of conflict resolution applies to the traditional workplace as well as to the network marketing arena. According to Improvisational Negotiation, authored by Jeffrey Krivis, there are three basic ways to help resolve conflicts in the workplace:

1. Let people tell their story. When people are deeply upset about something, they need to get their story out. This basic step must be taken in order to find the solution. In other words, keeping feelings and thoughts bottled up only leads to resentment and increasing disharmony, so step one is to get whatever is bothering you off your chest.


2. Bring a reality check to the table. In a conflict, people often are so focused on the details of their personal perspectives that they lose sight of the big picture. People need to be brought back to reality by having them focus on the whole situation, not just one particular aspect.


3. Identify the true impediment. In every conflict, ask: What is the true motivating factor here? What is really keeping this person from agreeing to a solution? Once you get to the root of the problem and not just what is on the surface, a resolution can be found.

Improved communication and loss reduction are the primary goals behind any type of conflict resolution. In order for a resolution to be reached, there are specific givens:

• All interested parties must participate and complete the process jointly.
• All interested parties must be willing to modify their positions and/or behavior and be prepared to brainstorm options.
• If the conflict is between crosslines, uplines may become involved if their approval is necessary and they are willing to “honor the process” and not take sides.

If the conflict is particularly contentious, the use of a facilitator or mediator may be necessary. In these cases, the facilitator will begin by asking each party questions about the issues and listening to them, without agreeing or critiquing. This is the “let people tell their story” part of the resolution process. Here are the types of questions a facilitator would address separately to all interested parties:

• What are the issues from your perspective?
• What do you need to resolve this? What are the goals and concerns that need to be met for you to be satisfied?
• What do you think the other parties need to be satisfied?
• What do you propose to be done to satisfy everyone involved?

Once the questions are answered individually, the facilitator brings all interested parties together and goes over the same questions again. The strategy is to enable all interested parties to first agree on what the problems/issues actually are. This is the “reality check” part of the process. Regardless of whether or not an agreement can be reached on what the issues are, this exercise works to open up the lines of communication.

Conflict resolution as both a professional practice and academic field is highly sensitive to cultural practices. In Western cultural contexts, such as North America, successful conflict resolution usually involves fostering communication among disputants, problem solving, and drafting agreements that meet underlying needs. In these situations, conflict resolvers often talk about finding a mutually satisfying “win-win” solution.

In many non-Western cultural contexts, such as Afghanistan, Vietnam and China, it is also important to find "win-win" solutions; however, the routes taken to find them may be very different. In these contexts, direct communication between disputants that explicitly addresses the issues at stake in the conflict can be perceived as very rude, thus worsening the situation and delaying resolution. In such cases, it can be helpful to involve community leaders or to communicate difficult issues via a third party. Intercultural conflicts are often the most difficult to resolve because the expectations of the disputants can be very different, and there is a lot of room for misunderstandings.

As LPGN expands into more countries, IBOs will have increasing opportunities to sponsor people from around the world. Sensitivity to the various cultures and traditions will help you grow your organizations with minimal risk of conflict. And if a conflict should arise, stay calm and openminded— get to the root of the disagreement, then agree to resolve the issue together. Having resolution as the common goal between two dissenting parties is half the battle.

Happy prospecting!