CHAPTER 4
Assess the Situation
When you’re faced with a specific situation, there are five things to do to assess the scenario at hand before taking action—understand your counterpart; identify the type of conflict you’re facing; consider the organizational context; determine your goal; and, finally, pick one of the four options you’ll take to deal with this particular situation.
The first time you analyze a conflict using these five steps it will take some time, but eventually the analysis will get easier. The goal is to be able to quickly do these steps in your head whenever a disagreement arises.
Understand Your Counterpart
First, consider whom you’re dealing with. Is he a conflict seeker or avoider? How does he typically communicate and how ...
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