Colorful Leadership

Project Conflict
Normal, Nasty, or Nice?

View our webinar on project conflict

The Colorful Conflict model helps you to quickly assess the level of conflict and offers techniques for moving it from destructive to constructive conflict.

Conflict is an essential part of every project. It may be normal, nasty, or nice, but there will be conflict. Every participant has a different set of needs and expectations. Somehow, you have to pull it together, and if you fail, the project may fail due to lack of support from key stakeholders, especially if the conflict turns nasty. If there is a lack of conflict because everyone is being nice, it is likely that some important issues are not being surfaced in a timely manner, and there will be a long term price to pay. To be a great project manager, you must add conflict to your plan, encouraging constructive conflict before any destructive conflict sets in.

The Colorful Leadership conflict model uses material developed and tested by Human Synergistics. It zeros in on workplace conflict, identifying aggressive, passive, and constructive patterns. There is no attempt to end the conflict because that cannot and should not be done. Instead, it focuses on techniques for turning the nasty stuff into constructive conflict that works to the long-term benefit of all participants. Conversely, if people are being too nice and too passive it identifies ways to turn up the heat a bit, encouraging some debate.
 

Read the recent interview with Leadership Guide Magazine

Attend our half-day workshop on July 15, 2011. Details at www.rmima.org

Colorful Leaders take a disciplined look at situations from three perspectives, one at a time, and then act appropriately based on the complete picture.  It is based on the additive color process that makes every color television work.  Red, green, and blue lights combine to create a full spectrum of colors, forming a beautiful high definition image.

Steve Wille, author of Colorful Leadership, is a senior applications manager at a large insurance company with U.S. headquarters in Colorado. He has over 25 years experience in corporate information technology management. His article on Constructive Conflict has been published internationally. Steve is a PMP (Project Management Professional) and has developed multiple large information technology systems from the ground up. Steve's MBA degree is from Regis University in Denver, and his BSBA degree is from the University of Denver.