Empathy + Transparency + Listening Skills + Clear Goals + Being Genuine + No Ego

= To build Trust and to resolve conflicts.

When I walked in the first day to one of the companies I managed some time ago, I was in a rude shock. Right opposite the main building, there was a bonfire. Close to that, in another area, slogans, and placards. Naturally, I didn’t expect day one and my first visits to be this. As I walked in learned that it was union action/agitation. When I spoke to the head of the entity from whom I was taking over, I was told that it’s a union agitation and their demands are not reasonable, and after some time, they will get sick of it and mellow down.

During lunch, I walked to them and queried the reason for the action after introducing myself, for none of them knew who I was. The reply was swift. We’ve been silently protesting and taking our grievances to the management for many months now, and they did nothing but ignore us. Now we have no option but to resort to more significant action and our factory has started it and so have we. To my question, what you are burning, they said the company annual reports.

Later I spoke to them, and what I had to do was listen mostly. We agreed on a transparent time frame bound meeting schedules into the future with checks and balances. This included action from the employee side in fulfilling specific requirements. Never a day, we had agitations after that until I left, and the powerful unions became virtually defunct after two years as people didn’t see the need for it. Empathy, listening skills, transparent management, and pre-agreed vision and goals sorted the uneasiness. The company has done very well since then, and even during more significant cost actions, including an extensive golden handshake program, the support was excellent. That’s because of the trust we’ve built by then.

I thought of this, looking at the current impasse we see politically and economically today. The future response could be more dramatic when we don’t heed proper to grievances during a silent protest. Besides, the ability to arrive at solutions is much earlier in the initial stages than when allowed wounds to fester. To do so, the first is to establish trust. Trust comes through credible action and not through action undermining any one party. The onus of such trust being established falls on the party with power and not on the aggrieved. Remember. If you continue to neglect the legitimate grievances, these later turn out to be stone-cold unreasonable actions, including violent behavior as we deal with people’s emotions.

Lessons learned through commercial organizations, as above, bring into light the need to do the right thing and bring about transparency and Bonafede action. It is always up to the power holder to initiate action. The break-up comes when the Ego overtakes reality.

Over the years have handled multiple and very tough unions, and it has always been the same. Deal with empathy as if they are your family. Build trust by bringing in a transparent process. Listen to grievances and suggestions well. It’s a virtue in need to resolve conflicts. Have a clear vision and goal in areas of mutual interest. As the person with power, you initiate these and live true to your conscience in creating action. This is what I call being genuine. (When you are genuine others could almost feel it.) Never ridicule the party anytime. Your ego is not needed.

Now apply this to the current context you will see where we are going wrong. This, I believe, will also help younger executives manage conflicts, especially unions or team-related dispute resolution.