How to Handle Disagreements
Make Handling Conflict a Competitive Advantage
Sport and recreation can be emotionally charged, and disagreements and conflict can be heated. Knowing how to navigate these situations calmly helps create a psychologically safe experience.
Effectively handling disagreements in your team
Handling disagreements and conflict effectively will can give your team a competitive advantage. Ignoring or silencing issues in your team can lead to issues getting worse rather than better.
This five step method can help you work through a disagreement to find a solution that works for everyone.
1. Frame the Issue
Name the problem using neutral language:
- Use positive language
- Challenge assumptions
- Create questions, not statements
- Avoid all subjective language
- Change “Our board is toxic.” To “How can we make our board function more effectively?”
2. Identify positions
These may be demands, threats, or terms and conditions, like:
- “If this doesn’t happen, I will . . .”
- “If we don’t have a meeting, I will boycott practice.”
- “If the coach doesn’t stop favouring this player, I will e-mail the athletic director.”
3. Explore Interests
Our interests are what we really want to see as an outcome.
Explore them to understand the reason our position is important to us. They are our hopes, feelings, concerns, needs, and aspirations. Ask about the motivations, beliefs and values behind a position is believed or valued.
4. List common interests
Identify which interests are important to both parties.
This is the golden ticket to finding common ground and a solution.
5. Explore options and develop a plan
Outline options that will serve the interests of all parties.
Identify how those options be actioned. Indicate who needs to do what to make change happen.
