Resolving conflicts requires preemptive work
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MONTEREY, Calif. — Because conflict in group settings can be difficult to resolve, Stephen D. McLeod, MD, CEO for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, recommends establishing a consensus before conflict occurs.
“It's really important in an organization or group to establish the common principles that you all have that define where you're going and how you're going to get there,” McLeod said at the Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium.
In his presentation, McLeod said a great deal of the work that goes into resolving conflict is preemptive.
“The salient point is that the time to resolve conflict is not waiting for it to come along,” McLeod said.
In building a consensus, McLeod said determining common principles and goals are key because they offer a framework to follow when conflict arises. Then, the path forward can be debated.
“That consensus around those fundamentals becomes your framework for conflict resolution later on because you have those fundamentals about your professionalism, your respect and your communication, and you have those fundamentals in place where you all agreed as a group on where you're supposed to go,” McLeod said. “Essentially, much of conflict resolution first becomes asking the question, is part of this conflict because there really is a departure, in this instance, from what our fundamental agreed on goals are as a group?”
Recognizing that question gives way to another important thought, McLeod said, “Does that question give us an opportunity to actually confront or revisit these goals?”
Overall, in the process of resolving conflict, McLeod said respecting and trusting each other, defining the problem and goals, soliciting ideas and input, taking time if needed, and listening to understand are all important.
“You don’t listen to wait until you've got an opening in the conversation, so you can insert the correction needed or to find that point of vulnerability that will rip the argument down, you're listening to understand the other side,” McLeod said.
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How to be a leader amongst leaders. Presented at: Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium; Aug. 25-28, 2022; Monterey, California (hybrid meeting).
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