Workplace Conflict Resolution: Joshua Gordon of the Sports Conflict Institute On How Team Leaders Can Create The Right Environment To Resolve Conflicts
An Interview With Eric Pines
Aligning Goals and Expectations: Ensure all team members understand and commit to common objectives. For instance, aligning a sports team’s marketing and finance departments on shared revenue targets can prevent conflicts arising from misaligned priorities.
An important component of leadership is conflict resolution. Why is conflict resolution so important? How can leaders effectively incorporate conflict resolution into their work culture? In this interview series called “Workplace Conflict Resolution: How Team Leaders Can Create The Right Environment To Resolve Conflicts,” we are talking to business leaders who can share insights and anecdotes from their experience about how to implement Conflict Resolution at work. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Joshua Gordon.
Joshua Gordon has a strong track record of managing conflict through transformation in the human capital arena. Joshua is the founder of the Sports Conflict Institute (SCI), with over thirty years of professional conflict management experience. He is an experienced mediator, arbitrator, facilitator, educator, and organizational capability builder. He is also Faculty at the University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business where he teaches courses on conflict management, negotiation, law, and sports business. Joshua is also one of the co-authors of Strategic Negotiation: Building Organizational Excellence, A Roadmap to Harnessing the Power of Alignment. The book explores how to prevent and resolve destructive conflicts by building an internal organizational culture that supports individuals in negotiation, so conflicts can be resolved at the source or prevented altogether.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
My journey into sports law and dispute resolution was driven by a passion for sports and a keen interest in the complexities of legal and ethical issues within the sports industry. A pivotal moment in my career path was my experience as a scholarship student-athlete, which was abruptly derailed due to unresolved conflicts with a coach. This personal challenge highlighted the lack of effective mechanisms for dispute resolution in sports, motivating me to delve into this field. My academic pursuits in law, combined with a specialization in sports law and dispute resolution, were natural progressions of my desire to integrate my legal expertise with my profound understanding of sports. This unique combination enabled me to contribute significantly to the field, particularly in understanding and resolving conflicts in sports governance and business. At the end of the day, I wanted to be a personal of impact and combine passion with where my skillset might be most useful to others.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
One of the most intriguing experiences in my career occurred when I was entrusted with resolving complex disputes in sports, highlighting the crucial role of conflict management in high-stakes environments. A particularly memorable instance involved working with a high-profile football coach. He initially didn’t recognize his challenges as ‘conflicts’ but rather as ‘issues’ or ‘struggles.’ This experience was a revelation: to be effective in sports dispute resolution, I needed to adapt my language to the specific context while still employing evidence-based practices. This approach not only resonated with sports professionals but also enhanced the effectiveness of conflict management strategies in any context where performance matters.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
My favorite ‘Life Lesson Quote’ comes from Norm Levine, a Nike Hall of Fame running coach and Brandeis legend, who always emphasized, ‘Prior preparation prevents poor performance.’ This quote profoundly resonates with my professional ethos. In my work, I emphasize creating systems and structures that preemptively address issues in sports governance and conflict resolution. Much like removing a fleck of sand before it becomes a boulder, this proactive approach is crucial in ensuring smooth operations and preventing minor issues from escalating into major conflicts. This philosophy has been a guiding principle in my career, highlighting the importance of foresight and preparation in both sport and conflict resolution.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
What sets the Sports Conflict Institute apart is our commitment to integrating academic insight with practical application in sports governance and dispute resolution. We focus on pioneering research and its practical application, ensuring that our strategies are grounded in both theory and real-world efficacy. For instance, our work in developing innovative conflict resolution models for sports teams has not only advanced academic understanding but has also had a tangible impact on sports governance practices. Additionally, we emphasize developing organizational capability and serve as a catalyst for organizational improvement rather than fostering a dependence on our expertise — we want to transfer and integrate those skills into other organizations.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The three traits that have been instrumental to my success are:
Analytical Thinking: In my role as an arbitrator, being able to dissect complex legal issues and understand their nuances has been crucial.
Cognitive Empathy: As a mediator, understanding different perspectives is key. This trait helped me successfully mediate a dispute between a sports organization and its athletes.
Resilience: The world of sports law is often challenging, and resilience has enabled me to navigate these challenges effectively.
Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?
A critical decision I faced as a leader involved choosing between two promising dispute resolution approaches in a complex sports governance case. This situation underscored the importance of understanding the varied definitions of success. Success, I realized, is not a universal concept; it varies significantly based on individual and organizational goals. In this instance, I had to deeply comprehend not only my own definition of success but also that of the involved parties. This understanding guided me to choose the path that aligned with the collective vision of success, demonstrating that effective leadership often requires a nuanced grasp of the diverse perspectives on what constitutes a successful outcome.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s start with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. What does Conflict Resolution mean?
Conflict resolution is the process of identifying and addressing differences that cause conflict in an organization. It involves understanding the underlying issues, fostering effective communication, and finding durable solutions that respect the interests of all parties involved. This process is crucial in achieving core goals as individuals or organizations. Conflict is inevitable but, when managed correctly, is not just mitigated but embraced as a catalyst for positive outcomes.
What are some common misunderstandings about Conflict Resolution that are important to clear up?
A common misunderstanding about conflict resolution is that it always involves compromise or concession. In reality, effective conflict resolution is about finding creative solutions that address the core interests of all parties. Another misconception is that conflict is inherently negative; when managed effectively, it can lead to growth and innovation within a team.
This might be intuitive to you, but it will be helpful to clearly express this. Can you please explain why it is so important for leaders to learn and deploy conflict resolution techniques?
For leaders, mastering conflict resolution techniques is crucial as it directly impacts team cohesion, productivity, and morale. Effective conflict resolution ensures that disagreements do not escalate into disruptive disputes, instead transforming them into opportunities for growth and collaboration. Leaders adept in these skills foster a positive work environment and drive organizational success.
On the flip side, what happens to a work culture when there is not an effective way of resolving conflict? How does it impact employees?
A work culture lacking effective conflict resolution mechanisms can lead to a host of negative outcomes, including decreased employee morale, reduced productivity, and a toxic work environment. When conflicts are not addressed constructively, it can lead to chronic tension, reduced collaboration, and even attrition, significantly impacting the overall health and performance of an organization. Not to mention brand harm, direct costs of specific disputes, and opportunity costs, to name a few.
Can you provide examples of how effective conflict resolution has led to increased team performance, collaboration, or innovation within your organization?
In my role, effective conflict resolution has significantly enhanced various facets of sports business. For example, in a dispute between a major sports brand and a team over sponsorship terms, my intervention facilitated a more innovative and mutually beneficial agreement. This not only improved their business relationship but also set a new precedent in sports sponsorship negotiations. Another instance involved mediating between a sports league and its broadcasters, where resolving their differences led to a pioneering broadcast strategy, increasing viewership and revenue. These examples demonstrate how resolving conflicts in the sports business arena can lead to innovative solutions and substantial growth.
What are your “Five Ways Every Team Leader Can Create The Right Environment To Resolve Conflicts”? If you can, please share specific examples of a workplace conflict you’ve encountered, and how you applied conflict resolution techniques to address it.
1 . Aligning Goals and Expectations: Ensure all team members understand and commit to common objectives. For instance, aligning a sports team’s marketing and finance departments on shared revenue targets can prevent conflicts arising from misaligned priorities.
2 . Encouraging Open Dialogue: Foster an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing concerns and ideas. This approach proved effective in resolving misunderstandings between a sports agency and its athletes over contract terms.
3 . Promoting Empathy and Perspective-Taking: Encourage team members to consider others’ viewpoints. This was instrumental in resolving a dispute between a sports team’s coaching staff and its management, leading to better collaboration.
4 . Providing Conflict Resolution Training: Equip team leaders with the skills to manage conflicts proactively. Implementing training programs in a sports organization can preempt potential conflicts by enhancing understanding and communication skills.
5 . Establishing Clear Conflict Resolution Protocols: Develop and communicate clear guidelines for managing conflicts. An example of this was setting up a mediation process within a sports league, which helped in quickly resolving team disputes and maintaining harmony.
In your experience, what are the most common sources of conflict within a team, and how do you proactively address these potential issues before they escalate?
In my experience, the most common sources of conflict within a team are miscommunication and a failure to understand underlying interests. To proactively address these issues, it’s critical to have effective conflict management and dispute resolution systems. These systems should be designed to identify and address conflicts early. Key strategies include establishing regular and clear communication channels, encouraging open dialogue, and providing training in communication and negotiation. Implementing these approaches helps in detecting potential conflicts early, allowing for timely intervention and maintaining a productive team dynamic.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If I were to start a movement, it would leverage the universal language of sports to revolutionize how society handles conflict. Sports, as one of the last remaining societal ‘laboratories’ where diverse groups intersect, offers a unique platform for teaching and practicing effective conflict resolution. This movement would focus on embedding conflict resolution skills within sports training, using the sports field as an analogy for broader societal interactions. The aim is to transform sports into a vehicle for societal change, equipping individuals with the tools to handle conflicts constructively in all aspects of life.
How can our readers further follow you online?
I am not too hard to find 😊. You can connect or follow me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuagordon/) at the Sports Conflict Institute (https://sportsconflict.org/) or through my books — The Sports Playbook: Building Teams That Outperform Year After Year (https://www.routledge.com/The-Sports-Playbook-Building-Teams-that-Outperform-Year-after-Year/Gordon-Furlong-Pendleton/p/book/9781138300651) and Strategic Negotiation: Building Organizational Excellence (https://www.routledge.com/Strategic-Negotiation-Building-Organizational-Excellence-A-Roadmap-to/Gordon-Furlong/p/book/9781032153773)
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.
While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.
Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.
Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.
Workplace Conflict Resolution: Joshua Gordon of the Sports Conflict Institute On How Team Leaders… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.