Joe Gerstandt | keynote speaker, freedom fighter, freak-flag flier

Conflict is good.

I am not talking here about drama or dysfunctional conflict, but healthy and honest disagreement. It is good because:

1.)    It is reality…human beings have different perspectives, different points of view different priorities and are going to disagree…and arguing with or avoiding reality is a poor investment of time and energy.

2.)    It is evidence that people are willing and able to be honest.

3.)    It is evidence that people are awake and alive and paying attention and that they actually care about their work.

4.)    It can inform better decision making, challenging us to think about an issue from different perspectives.

I think that intentionally or unintentionally D&I practitioners and the larger HR profession have sent some very unfortunate messages regarding conflict. In summary, the message has been “conflict is bad.”  So we have employees and managers that try to avoid conflict (which generally involves less honesty) and if conflict does break out somehow we are to immediately call HR so that they can swoop in and “put the fire out.”

Diversity (in any of its many forms) brings tension with it.  That tension can drive superior outcomes for a group or inferior outcomes for a group, the determining factor being how we deal with that tension.  We should not be sending the message that conflict is bad or that it requires some kind of outside expertise…we should be sending the message that conflict is natural and that it is expected and we should be helping to build the appropriate skills so that employees are able to disagree respectfully and effectively.

Part of the soundtrack of an organization that has the capacity for honesty, that is alive, learning and evolving is the din of many contained conflicts.  That should be music to our ears rather than terrifying to us.

Inclusion is not about harmony or unity.  It is not about everyone being best friends.  We are not ever going to like everyone.  Some of you are just plain irritating!  Inclusion is about being whole and being real with each other and putting all of that stuff to work toward our common objectives.  We must move away from the idea of avoiding conflict and towards equipping employees and managers to deal with conflict when it shows up and move on.  We must better integrate functional disagreement into the organizational culture.

We must help our organizations make more of that music.

…and since we are talking about the future of this work, I want to remind you to put a few dates on your 2011 calendar.  Please help us architect the future of this work, and in doing so, architect the future of our organizations and communities.

March 22-24, 2011 || Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity || Minneapolis, MN

April 1-2, 2011 || Diversity and Inclusion Unconference || Omaha, NE

October 24-26, 2011 || SHRM Diversity and Inclusion Conference || Washington, D.C.

The Future of Diversity and Inclusion Work (prologue)

The Future of Diversity and Inclusion Work (part 1) Social Media

The Future of Diversity and Inclusion Work (part 2) Human Nature

Be good to each other.