Managing and Leading Nonprofit Organizations

9Effectively Managing Conflict

Just as change is inevitable within organizational life, conflict also takes its place as something that is ready to rear up at a moment's notice. Conflict can arise at the individual level, within and between teams, or across the organization. In addition to experiencing internal forms of conflict, leaders and managers of nonprofit organizations can experience conflict that is external to the organization. It can feel like an enemy force with ladders preparing to come over the walls of your castle or, worse yet, preparing to use a battering ram to come straight through the walls, intent on doing harm to one of your services or to the entire organization.

Whether the conflict is internal to your organization or coming from an external force, it is critical that your leadership and management toolbox has the capacity to understand as well as manage conflict. Building tools to address conflict helps you in your role and supports the capacity for the organization to successfully pursue its important mission. Given the inevitable nature of conflict and its potential to hurt the team and the organization, we take time to better understand the nature of conflict as well as strategies to successfully manage potential schisms that this phenomenon can create, which in turn can adversely impact the team and the agency's ability to fulfill its mission.

Conflict, both internal and external, has such potential to adversely impact the organization that significant ...