Conflict Resolution at the Workplace

To err is human to forgive is divine.

Conflicts can greatly reduce the productivity of the individuals at the workplace.We do not value what we have until we lose it. This statement is also applicable to peace and harmony at the workplace. While it is good we resolve conflicts, it is even a more desirable state to prevent conflicts. Basically everyone wants to be treated with respect, appreciated, and recognized. Nobody wants to be taking for granted. Saying simple words like please and thank you can go a long way in reducing conflicts at the work place. Be considerate of others. Do not be myopic in your thinking. Things are not always the way they first appear. Hear both sides out in a dispute. Do not allow any form of prejudice to interfere with your judgment faculty. Look for a win-win situation

Communication- conflicts usually occur as a result of ineffective communication. The receiver of the message may have a wrong interpretation of the message. It is the duty of the receiver to clarify and confirm what the sender implies. Words should not always be taken at face value especially if the individuals involved have different backgrounds. An African adage says words have male and female versions. This is to indicate that the tone of response can make another party to pick offence. Mind how you raise your voice. Even facial or body expression can even can even trigger conflict. Issues that usually generate conflict in decreasing order of influence are listed below.

Schedule
Priorities
Resources
Technical Beliefs
Administrative policies and procedures
Project Cost
Personalities



Methods of handling conflicts
Problem Solving –even though this approach confronts the issue head on it is still the preferred way of resolving disputes. This approach helps to build relationships and trust among people. it may however appear confrontational. It is also time consuming but its worth it in the long term.
Forcing –the person with the power makes the decision. This may not even be the best for the parties. The organizational interest is considered and given priority. The affected individuals may however not settle their disputes.
Compromising- in this situation both parties give up something. In real sense non of the parties wins. This approach can be used to avoid fight and not to appear bias.
Smoothing- this refers to efforts or attempts to minimize the perceived size of the problem and impact of the problem. It is a short term solution that allows the warring factions to cool off. Areas of agreement between the aggrieved parties are emphasized
Withdrawal-this is not a good way of resolving conflicts. It is a situation whereby one of the parties walks away in annoyance and the problem is not solved. It can only be helpful in maintaining relationship when the issue is not very important.

Final Whistle
The real objective for workers is to get the work done. Every form of strife should be avoided. It takes the matured mind to apologize. I even recommend that you forgive people in advance. Empathize with the other aggrieved person. See things from their perspective. Perhaps you will understand the person’s point of view. If only we could be more patient and tolerant. If we could restrain ourselves from uttering those statements we will later regret. Please calm down. Leigh Hunt said ‘patience and gentleness is power”
Oluyemi Adeosun
A Consultant with Generis Solutions
www.yemiadeosun.blogspot.com

Our Core Values Our Power

Our Core Values Our Power

A top executive embezzles money, a management staff influences the salary of a girlfriend, and a married man impregnates his house help. I guess you are familiar with such stories. These things do not just happen. It’s a reflection of an individual’s core value. At least another individual has been faced with a similar temptation and did not fall.

What do you stand for? Where do you stand? How do you stand? Who are you standing with? Why do you stand? You shall know the truth and it will set you free. What actually makes the truth so powerful is that it draws its strength from the base line (core value). Truth does not compromise…it ultimately delivers value. People believe in the truth because it can be relied upon. A compromise is what nobody believes in.

Core value is the parameters by which we appraise situations, opportunities, events and circumstances in our lives. They are more or less like a mental sieve which determines your output, response and attitude.

Core value wins in the long run. Have you ever heard of a situation where doctors told a patient that he cant walk again and not only does the patient walk he goes ahead to run in the Olympics. This is usually as a result of some core values which may include tenacity, determination and a never say die attitude.

Kunta Kinte in that epic movie Roots refused to change his name to Toby in spite of severe punishment because of his core value. Core value is something we all have whether we are conscious of it or not. So the focus of this article is to ensure you have the appropriate values. Your core values determine who you really are. It determines what you attract and also determines whether you are assisted or resisted in your pursuit of greatness.

If you are honest and sincere you will operate with other people as though they also honest. You will give people the benefits of the doubt, however if you are dubious and dishonest, you will be suspicious of every other fellow. When you act in good faith, you will more often than not get good results.

What is your organizations core value? What’s your family’s core value? What’s your religions core value? What’s your nation’s core value? Core values rules your conscience. Look at the people in the world who we celebrate today you will realize that they are propelled by strong virtues. Those who know their values and live by them become the leader of their society. Martin Luther King was driven by equal rights and freedom, Mother Theresa by compassion and value for human life, Henry Ford desired that everybody affords a car, Bill Gates desired that every home will have a personal computers and our very Adeolu Akinyemi has a desire to see people and organizations succeed. There is a strong relationship between core values, desires, goals, aspirations and performance.

Your values determine what decisions you take and how you relate to other people. Do you consider short term implications or long term? Or immediate gratifications or delayed gratifications? Do you place other people first over yourself? If you value others to lay down your life for them, you will soon be hero worshiped. If you value people enough to serve them, you will soon be their leader.

According to jack Welch, values describe behaviors that will take you where you are going. Generally core values are drawn from virtues which include service, respect, integrity, excellence and quality. Values are means to achieving the companies’ mission and vision. Now let’s consider a case study of an organization called Bank One.

One of Banks One core value is ‘we treat customers the way we want to be treated”. They further itemize the behaviors required to achieve this. Some of them include-
Never let profit center conflict get in the way of doing what is right for the customer.
Give customers a good fair deal. Great customer relationship takes time. Do not try to maximize short –term profits at the expense of building enduring relationships.
Always look for ways to make it easier to do business with us.
Communicate daily with your customers. If they are talking to you, they cannot be talking to competition.
Don’t forget to say thank you.

You can take a cue from the case study above and further elaborate your core values. It gives you more power and makes it come to life. If it is practical, then it will be practiced and the results will be overwhelming.

We acquire core values include association, mentoring, reading books about successful individuals etc. On a final note do you play to win or not to lose? Do you save for opportunities or for the rainy day? Your answer to this question is a reflection of your value system.

Oluyemi Adeosun
A Consultant with Generis Solutions
www.yemiadeosun.blogspot.com

Why do you change a gadget?

The phone you presently own is still functional and has all the basic requirements to facilitate your communication needs yet you decide to change it for “the latest one”. It’s amazing that the things you use your phone for regularly are available on some of the cheapest phones available? Which car does Bill Gates drive? Which year was it made? Truly wealthy people purchase things that they actually need. If you change your car every 2 years that is fine. The question is why? If it’s because brand new cars are cheaper to maintain...Good but if it is because that’s what your colleagues are doing then that may be frowned at. What is a need to Peter may be a want to Paul. That’s not saying you should not enjoy your self but remember to delay gratuity and make profitable expenses. Plan how you will spend your money just like you plan investment. Consider being the role model for others to follow and not vice versa. You too can be a pace setter. What does it matter if the IT student’s phone is more expensive than yours?

What is a want today might be a need tomorrow so there’s no hard and fast rule to it. Just make sure your financial priorities are set right. “JONES” Are people we try to imitate their lifestyle and habits. They are people we subconsciously measure our living standard against.

What is a need to Peter may be a want to Paul. I am not saying you should not enjoy your self but do it as you planned, which is set a goal for enjoyment. You definitely set a goal to earn the money so why don’t you set a goal to expend it! And make sure it is not a strain to your pocket. There’s a difference (huge) between buying something and actually being able to afford it. Consider been copied at the workplace instead of you coping others. You too can be a pace setter. What does it matter if the IT student’s phone is more expensive than yours?

Let’s consider wisdom from an excerpt of one of my books “Empower Yourself: The Making of a Legend” We are all fond of acquiring new things. We generally look forward to our next purchase. While purchasing or buying is good, we need to ensure that what we are buying is essential. Why are you buying it? Is it because you saw Mr. A’s or Mr. B’s possession or because a need exists that the product can adequately fill?

Purchases can generally be categorized into two; assets and liabilities. An asset is a valuable or useful item that can create income while a liability is a thing that causes problems or financial obligation or debt. In other words, assets put money in your pocket while liabilities take money out of your pocket. Examples of assets include

· Equipment or machine that can be used in production

· Business that do not require your presence

· Shares and bonds

· Real estate

· Anything that appreciates with time i.e. art works

Avoid purchasing on impulse. Your judgments are generally impaired under such conditions. Acquire assets that will increase your wealth in the real sense of it. Before you buy a car or other equipment, ensure you find out from people who know about it very well. Consult people who are presently using the equipment or who repairs it in the location you intend to use it.

Securing information from the marketer only is not always the best. Sincerely you will save yourself a lot of headache. Your purchases henceforth should be based on research and wise judgment. Embrace delayed gratification and see how much more finance you can free up for investment.

Oluyemi Adeosun (workplace analyst)

A Consultant with Generis Solutions

www.yemiadeosun.blogspot.com

Keeping up with the Jones at the Workplace

Fitting into someone’s shoes could be an expensive venture, one that requires time and money.

Objectives

· To make a case for functionality ahead of fashion

· To teach people to live for themselves and not to please others.

· Emphasize the value of self improvement over self promotion

	“Jones” Are people we try to imitate their lifestyle and habits. They are people we subconsciously measure our living standard against.

Stephen was on 1.7k per annum in a Nigerian Bank before he got a plum job in an oil servicing firm in the Niger delta and he was placed on 3.5k per annum. After about 3 months in the new place of work he discovered that he was still getting broke at month end. He made a few observations about his spending pattern. A lot of things had changed about him. His taste, appetite, had changed along with his income. Parkinson law ("Parkinson's Law" states that: “expenses rise to meet income”) was in effect already. One major factor contributed to this, he was copying the ‘Jones’. He was living by the rules set by other people who did not set his personal finance goals with him. What is your personal financial goal? That is what should guide your spending and investment choices.

Stephens Expenditure on selected items

Expenditure as Bank employee 7k perfume 20k phone 3k shirt 1.8m car 1200 hair

Expenditure as Oil Company Employee 28k perfume 90k phone 15k shirt 4.5m car 4500 hair

Stephen should have considered delaying gratuity and preparing a budget to enable him have a hold over his spending. Getting the money is one thing but managing the resources is a different ball game and requires financial management skills.

The best way to make money is not to spend what you have at your disposal at the moment. If you can’t increase your income right now, you sure can reduce your expenditures. Economists make a distinction between wants and needs. Wants are the things we purchase to meet desires that are not basic or essential for survival. Expenditure on wants actually competes with what we should channel into savings and ultimately investments.

@ Oluyemi Adeosun

2 Truths to know

‘Specialization is good, but has a big disadvantage, the problems and challenges that life offers are not specialized. Your ability to make sound decisions is not a function of how specialist you are, it’s how broad you are’.

‘I tell people, jobs are not scarce, skilled and knowledgeable people are. If reading is not a part of your daily routine, you are under utilizing yourself and cheating your future’

I wish everybody will learn this…..This is profound men..

3 Things That Can Stand You Out

My Mentor (Deolu Akinyemi) shared this stuff at a meeting..i decide to share it with you.

Experience - Someone stood up and said, they’ve seen something like this before .

Perfect. If you have some experience doing what you are looking for an opportunity to do, you’ll have better chances. Experience is not experience because you were paid for doing it, it is experience because you did it. An ounce of experience is worth a ton of theory. Don’t go to class alone, look around you for opportunities to gather experience. It is the little victories that you have had while you were in obscurity that qualifies you for the big opportunities. My own personal story indicates the value of experience. I had been recruiting on campus, for Exploit makers, for SCM, for EEESS and all. When I got my first Job post NYSC as a recruiting Manager, I had experience! I also talked about over 5 people who came to our office as volunteers, and within a period of less than 5 months were able to bag great jobs in other companies. They had the experience, it didn’t matter that they were volunteers.

Preparation - Some people did not even have paper of pens for the exercise. The opportunity came and they did not have the resources for it. They didn’t have the foresight to prepare!

Proper preparation prevents poor performance. Preparation begets performance. Fortune favors the prepared mind. To prepare is to be set when your opportunity comes. Preparation involves enlisting in a routine of developing habits out of things that failures hate to do. It involves living every day alert, being ready for ones opportunities. The quality of your preparation determines the quality of your performance. One of the great example of preparation in history is Hitler. Hitler is said to rehearse his public presentation to death before embarking on it. Hitler rehearses minute things like his smile, his body kinetics e.t.c while making a speech. Another good example is Tyson, Mike Tyson is said to spend hours on end watching knock out scenes in historical fights. When Mike Tyson enters the ring he has prepared for numerous knockout routines, small wonder he knocks people out in 30seconds.

Knowledge - Someone stood up and said, “they knew something we didn’t know!”

One man I respect a lot usually said, Ignorance of ones ignorance is the minimum requirement for admission into the college of fools. Every human being is born at the level of unconscious incompetence. The journey to mastery involves migration from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence. Awareness makes one move from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence, training makes one move from conscious incompetence to conscious competence, practice makes one move from conscious competence to unconscious competence. What you don’t know will hurt you, make a resolution to damage your ignorance daily. An empty bag will not stand upright. Leaders are readers, if you need to hide something from a looser, hide it in a self development book.

Courage, Perseverance, Skill, Focus, Innovation were other items spoken about (wouldn’t want to write a book here )

Ultimately my overall position on developing a competitive edge is staying innovative. Staying true to the things that make you unique, different, apart. Focusing on your passions, your strengths, your possibilities. We compete because we do not create. Who says you have to be in the same business with the other guy? Who says your competition is the other guy? I reminded them about my professor of philosophy friend, the story I started with - I told them that after I got philosophy clear, he called me to the side and told me, he would suggest that I use the clean water to wash the clean person. I should then use the water that washes off him, which is suggests I collect because it will still be relatively clean, to wash the dirty man. This way I use the same tools to achieve more than I would with a competitive mindset. This he told me is not philosophy, but creativity!

Tease your brains a bit

According to Andersen Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the
professionals they tested got all questions wrong. But many
preschoolers got several correct answers. Andersen Consulting says
this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have
the brains of a four year old.

The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and tells whether
you are truly a “professional”. The questions are not that difficult.

Think each question through before reading further because the answers
are just beneath each question

Have fun!

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and
close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple
things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Wrong Answer : Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close
the refrigerator. Correct Answer : Open the refrigerator, take out
the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your
ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference, all the animals
 attend except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer : The Elephant. The Elephant is in the refrigerator.
This tests your memory.

OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly,
you still have one more chance to show your abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles.
 How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You swim across. All the Crocodiles are attending the
Animal conference! This tests whether you learn quickly from your
mistakes.