Resolving Conflicts With Clients And Within Your Firm

Conflict is no stranger to professional service firms. Many times, professionals who are involved with a workplace conflict believe that its resolution has to do with getting the other person or entity to change -- a situation where you win and the other party loses.

Kathy Stroh, an expert on conflict resolution in locations ranging from corporate boardrooms to prisons, took on this misperception at a quarterly core competency session of the Mile High Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators, held Jan. 25 in Denver, Colorado.

"Part of reclaiming your life in a conflict situation is realizing that you do not have as much control in changing the world as you do in changing your response to the world," said Stroh. "A person involved in a conflict cannot change the world (or conflict); he or she can only change his or her response to the world (or conflict).

"This is not easy," said Stroh. "It takes courage for one party to stop putting the blame on the other -- and focus instead on changing his or her own behavior in a conflict situation. However, this approach is the only one that works."