“Working with Eric was a pleasure. We developed a good rapport and established a level of honesty and trust. I valued his counsel and recommendations. I find Eric to be very competent in a variety of disciplines. He is able to correctly diagnose organizational problems and suggest solutions that are on point. I found Eric to be a professional with the highest levels of honesty, integrity, and ethical behavior. I would not hesitate to engage his services again in the future.”
Kathy Lueckert,
former Corporate Services Director,
Department of Planning and Development,
City of Seattle
(Kathy is now Director of Planning and Finance for Advocacy and Communications at World Vision.)
“I've worked closely with Eric on developing and presenting the Leadership Eastside community leadership program. He has that rare blend of extensive real-world experience along with a very strong background in theory and research. He moves easily between big picture strategy and the tactical details. Eric brings a superb ability to plan, execute and follow-through, both as a behind-the-scenes planner and as an upfront instructor and facilitator.”
Annalee Luhman,
founding board member,
Leadership Eastside
Conflict and change: The blog
3 July 2008
15% or 40%--you decide
"In 1976 one study estimated that up to 30% of a manager's time was spent dealing with conflict. Twenty years later another study found 42% of a manager's time is spent resolving conflicts." (Source: www.bizforum.org/whitepapers/ifwi.htm)
In a workshop a while back, I dared to suggest that 15% of people's work time should be devoted to maintaining and enhancing work relationships. Out of that mythical 40-hour workweek, that amounts to six hours of time. My comment met with stunned silence. Imagine the reaction: "Are you kidding me? I haven't got six hours a week to work on relationships! That's simply not realistic!"
Recently, I was reminded of the studies referenced above in which supervisors' and managers' were surveyed about how they actually spend their time. They found that 30-40% of bosses' time went into resolving conflict. Yikes! That's 12-16 hours a week! Two full days!
And, that just counts the time they spent dealing with conflict—not time preventing conflict by, say, building relationships or teambuilding. Moreover, it doesn't count time spent dealing with the downstream effects of conflict, like lower productivity, missed deadlines, and low quality.
Starts to make that 15% figure look a little more reasonable, eh? (Incidentally, that 15% figure has come out of decades of research in small group effectiveness. I didn't make it up.)
How much time are you spending on maintaining work relationships? Too much or too little? How much of your workweek is eaten up resolving conflict? Are you doing enough to reduce the conflict?
It's worth pondering.
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