The people who approach us to help them improve internal and external communication, by definition, care about culture. I say this because communication is culture. As John Dewey argues, “Men [sic] live in a community in virtue of the things which they have in common; and communication is the way in they come to possess things in common” (1916, qtd in Carey 1992, 22).
That means that, just by virtue of becoming one of our clients, I know that the people we work with value positive culture, because they seek better communication. One of the things we work on most frequently is conflict communication. Perhaps unsurprisingly, conflict tends to be feared and avoided. But in truth conflict is the central mechanism by which people “come to possess things in common.” Sharing a common vision is never an accident. An organization isn’t magically composed of people who all seek the same future. Instead, the contest of ideas about what an organization is, what it is for, where it is going, must be had for that shared understanding to emerge.
Avoiding conflict is a recipe for preventing necessary organizational growth. In fact, attempting to avoid conflict typically leads to conflict escalation as well as missed opportunities. In contrast, through constructively engaged communication, conflict can yield creative problem-solving and improve organizational flourishing (Follett, 1941). It can also generate new knowledge for problem-solving (Clegg et. al, 2002), and enhance commitment to the organization (Follett, 1941).
Conflict is not inherently destructive, but a lack of skills surrounding constructive conflict communication is, and contributes significantly to destructive conflict (Stewart, 2012). Research demonstrates that engaging in small, skillful, and frequent constructive conflict communication often decreases the prevalence and scale of damaging disputes (Stewart, 2012).
A culture without conflict is a fragmented—and ironically—antagonistic culture. Learning how to do conflict well—with a goal of coming to possess a common vision—creates a flourishing, generative, and committed culture. When our clients come to us, they have decided to invest in learning and practicing the skills necessary to transform their culture. John Dewey’s words come to life in the organizational transformation that ensues.
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