July 3

When people use the wordpeace, what they often mean is “I want to get what I want, and I don’t want you to complain about it or cause trouble.” That’s not peace; in a way, it’s a form of selfishness. For peace to exist, there must be harmony or order. This requires all parties to strive for the well-being of the other parties involved. When one party refuses to seek the well-being of another, there can’t be true peace.

There will always be conflict when groups of talented, creative people bump into one another. If people on your team are striving to do great work and take accountability for delivering results, they are naturally going to disagree from time to time. However, healthy conflict always has a common objective and the well-being of the other parties in mind. Teams who fight in a healthy manner do so within clear boundar- ies and with the intent of making each other better at the end of the day. There is order, not chaos. This is the essence of peace. It doesn’t mean a lack of conflict; it means we are all on the same side, and disagreements are with the intent of achieving our mutual objectives.

Commit to being a person of peace. Bring order, and strive for the well-being of your peers.

To achieve peace in your process and collaboration, strive for increased order in your world.

QUESTION

Have you ever experienced unhealthy conflict in your organi­ zation? What was the source of it, and what made it unhealthy?