Independent leadership development organisation Common Purpose is offering over 100 free places on Frontrunner, its leadership development programme for young adults.

Participants are taken to a diverse range of organisations where they explore the problems they are facing, alongside the people who are tackling them. The residential course that will be held five times in 2009:

22-25 June 2009, in London

6-9 July 2009, in Glasgow

13-16 July 2009, in Leeds

2-5 September 2009, in Bristol

7-10 September 2009, in Belfast

Applications are open to people over the age of 18, who may be in full-time education or are in the very early stages of their career, and who have already shown evidence of leadership.

The deadline for the Glasgow, Leeds and London Frontrunner programmes is 27 April. The deadline for the Bristol and Belfast programme is 27 July.

The short application process can be found online here

Or call +44 20 7608 8148 for further details.

So, what’s the best approach? First of all – let’s take a look at WHY conflict occurs – then it’ll be easier to see how to deal with it.

In this article – we use ‘Steve’ as our example, ‘difficult’ person…

Why do people become difficult?

1.) The limit of their capabilities has been reached

This could be in terms of skill set or physical workload… they start to make errors and don’t deliver to the required standard… this causes frustration with peers.

2.) They become disengaged

This can often be caused by frustration when high-achievers are held back for a long period of time – they will tend to withdraw from the team.

3.) They get distracted

Focus is key and if it moves elsewhere, effectiveness is reduced. Quite often the cause of distraction is for personal reasons and while colleagues will be sympathetic initially – the issue can become tedious for all.

4). Loss of motivation

Too little or too much delegation or challenge in the role can bring about demotivation. This can quickly effect the morale of others as well as themselves and is dangerous to productivity.

10 top tips for dealing with difficult people

1.) Start with yourself – you are leading a team – your position means you are an important factor in Steve’s dissatisfaction whether you like it or not. Individual differences in outlook or style can generate tension which could be used constructively or, if left unchecked can cause problems.

2.) Ask yourself whether you’ve exaplained new intiatives clearly enough to Steve – could he be causing insecurity or anxiety – remember people generally do not like change – and when emotions like fear come into play, people start to behave irrationally.

3.) Ask peers and other team members whether you come across as approachable and accessible – one of the best ways to deal with conflict is to get a balanced view on your personality traits. At least you then know the starting point for resolution.

4.) Decide whether you’ve made unreasonable demands of Steve. People don’t tend to admit when they are overloaded or out of their depth, for fear of reprimand. Go back and check and give them the opportunity to be honest.

5.) Find out if you’ve been unfair in your praise of others or criticism of poor old Steve. Consult trusted members of the team and Steve himself. Remember, if you are leader, you have the power to ‘play with peoples’ lives’ – seemingly innocuous comments can be taken in the wrong way.

6.) Find out what motivates each member of the team – ask yourself if you are over or under delegating to Steve. Over-delegating can cause a real fear of failure, causing unnecessary conflict.

7.) Arrange time off for Steve (and we’re starting to feel really sorry for him now) if there is a personal issue lurking behind the scenes – listen sympathetically to the issues but make sure you recognise when the problem is beyond your ability to help and figure out how to bring in the right people if required.

8.) If Steve has become disengaged, explore the causes face to face. It’s possible that if he has recently joined your team you need to release the burden of all the past broken promises and build up new trust again.

9.) If conflict has arisen due to Steve being simply overloaded, offer support and training if required over a reasonable timescale – but make it clear if improvement doesn’t materialise that his future in your team is limited.

10.) It’s your job as a leader to get to know your team members really well. You will then be able to notice changes in their mood, patterns of work, or work-life balance which often signal stress and potential conflict.

And finally

Dealing with Steve and difficult people generally is definitely one of the more difficult leadership competencies… it is tempting to work round a difficult person and to ’sweep them under the carpet’  but you will only undermine the standards you’ve set for the team and your own position. Other members of the team will also realise that being difficult gets them out of dealing with the tasks they don’t like.

As a leader – don’t bury these issues… work hard to deal with them early on in the process.

Remember, many people do not cope well in adversarial situations and may even sabotage their own future because they cannot see a simple way out of the conflict. If your fair and balanced approach cannot resolve the issue – don’t be afraid to involve your organisation’s disciplinary policy to prevent wider problems from occurring.

If you need more help dealing with a Steve – check out this great resource.

And Steve – buck your ideas up will you?

Related articles

• INDISPENSABLE LEADERSHIP SKILLS: Report Explores Most Important Qualities for Managing Design Teams (newswire.ca)
• The Difference Between Panic and Urgency (myventurepad.com)
• Don’t Wait for Leadership (myventurepad.com)

Image courtesy of Martin Kingsley

It got me thinking though about politics in leadership – is ticking the “Understanding politics” box one of the leadership competencies? Do you have to be just politically aware or do you have to play the politics to climb the ladder? I would argue the friend I mention above is ‘aware’ only and he’s climbed the ladder by being damn good at what he does and networking well. I’ve seen no evidence of him spending a career playing the game.

There is a school of thought which says that says potentially good leaders will always fail if they are politically naive… the sorts of people who will make decisions based on politics alone, about a direction … as opposed to having the courage of their own convictions. Other aspiring leaders may shy away from causes which are politically tricky and prefer to stay close to what they know.

This video-based e-course on the leadership competencies gives you further food for thought… If you spend more time doing and less time playing the politics can you still succeed as a leader? Is politics part of the leadership competency model?

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Related articles

• Economy dampens mood at World Economic Forum (ctv.ca)
• Leaders gather for Davos summit (news.bbc.co.uk)

It does seem that coaching is an investment that produces results.

it inspires hope… it creates learning, practice and mastery through repetition and the individual begins to think in an entirely new way, revisiting biases and beliefs, re-framing his or her conceptual framework.

Alan Deutschman, Author

Could it be that people need coaching more than ever in these challenging times? Getting help from experts does lead to  improved financial performance, associate advancement, and a sense of satisfaction and well-being for all involved.

Read the opnion of the Business Management ABC folks right here.

Image courtesy of Yatmandu