Personality Conflict: An Excuse Great Leaders Never Use

Sibling RivalryDon’t ever:

Tell someone complaining of chest and upper abdominal pain: “It’s just gas.”

Tell someone feeling short of breath: “It’s just anxiety.”

Dismiss workplace conflict with: “It’s just a personality conflict.”

Carl Jung first wrote about personalities and conflicting opposite types.  The famous Myers-Brigg’s personality test uses pairs of opposites:

Extroversion/Introversion,

Sensing/Intuition,

Thinking/Feeling,

Perceiving/Judging.

But the concept of conflict gets twisted to explain all persistent conflict between two people.  Why do we think personality conflict can explain so much?

Did Churchill and Hitler have a personality conflict?

Are personality conflicts holding back world peace?

Dr. Russel Watson says personality conflicts are not the true source of conflict in the work place.  He describes personality:

“The word itself is complex…unique constellation of one’s consistent behavioural tendencies…Terms used instead of ‘personality’ include: type; behavioural style; preferences; traits; and temperament, among others…closely describe work behaviours…how one does their job, or goes about their normal day-to-day activities.”

Instead of personality conflicts, Watson suggests that we fight over value conflicts:  differences in ideology.

“While behavioural style describes how one does their job, Values illuminate why one does their job, ie, their wins, drives, and rushes as they perform their duties.”

Lencioni tells us to ‘mine for ideological conflict‘ in his book, “Death by Meeting”.  He says we need to debate how our ideas differ or meetings are a waste of time.

Wrestling with conflicting ideas and values seems odd to a post-modern leader.  Post-moderns put weight on opinion, context and environment; everyone’s opinions are equally valid; you just have to be tolerant and get along.  We’ll dig into this in another post.

Do you find yourself relying on ‘personality conflict’ to explain difference of opinion?  Are you avoiding the hard work of digging into the real issues? I’d love to hear what you think by clicking Leave a Reply or # of Replies below.  Thanks!

Are Unions Killing Healthcare? Should We Fire Them or Add More?

MP900341718Unions helped improve working conditions in the mid-19th century industrial revolution.  But what have they done for PATIENTS lately?

Unions did great things for manufacturing, but have they done ANYTHING to improve service?

In a publicly funded healthcare system, does it make ANY sense to have unions?  Don’t government jobs already have good salaries and benefits?

Have unions improved anything for patients?

Have they increased efficiency?

Customer service?

Quality?

Innovation?

Choice?

Do unions improve anything other than salaries and benefits for their MEMBERS?  Are unions all about protecting seniority instead of promoting skill?  Are all unions the same, or do some care about something other than themselves?

Jeffrey Simpson writes in ‘Chronic Condition‘, that governments can’t “…break union rules that make surgeries happen to fit the convenience of providers instead of patients…” (p. 41).

In a world of evidence-based decision making, is there any proof that unions add value for patients? 

Unions drive up wages and create MANY extra layers of bureaucracy in hospitals just to manage union issues.  A platoon of nurse leadership and human resources staff spend hours managing unions.  Not employees . . . unions.  Would the public support the extra costs of dealing with unions? 

Increased wages, increased hospital costs, patient access decreased…

We need reform based on patient need.

We need to measure outcomes and hold unions accountable.  We need to look at the total cost of unions to healthcare and have them find efficiencies.  We need to examine the impact unions have on patient mortality and morbidity due to unions refusing care unless wages go up or work effort goes down.

Unions exist for themselves.  Unions do not exist for patients.  This has to change.

Should we empower hospitals to get rid of unions or expand them?  Do you have evidence showing that unions benefit patient access to care, quality, and customer service?  Please leave a comment by clicking Leave a Reply or # of Replies below.  Thank you!