Workplace Conflict Resolution: Chance Patterson Of Idea Hall On How Team Leaders Can Create The Right Environment To Resolve Conflicts
An Interview With Eric Pines
Objectively define the issue. This means state the problem or dispute without attaching it to your point of view. For example, in relation to a new policy for remote working, one executive may want a flexible policy while the other wants clear rules (remote work is permitted only on Fridays). An objective description would be we are deciding upon the terms of a new remote work policy rather than “John wants to force people to be in the office every day except Fridays.”
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 Chance Patterson.
Chance applies more than 20 years of experience in organizational culture, diversity, equity and inclusion, entertainment branding, global communications, investor relations and lobbying to help leaders and organizations unlock new financial, social impact and personal growth opportunities. Chance has served as a DEI and Communications strategic advisor to a variety of educational, social justice and corporate organizations including The Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Classy, GoFundMe, EY, Duck Creek Technologies and SkillsVR. Chance led PR, marketing, investor relations and lobbying with XM and SiriusXM Radio. He later joined Discovery Communications, leading global marketing communications. Following Discovery’s investment with Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios to form OWN, Chance served as Oprah’s personal publicist while overseeing all media relations, social media, branding and social impact/philanthropy. Chance serves as Of Counsel with a Chicago-based firm specializing in social impact and social entrepreneur law. A graduate of Boston University and Boston University School of Law, Chance was born in Ohio and now resides in Greenwich, Conn.
Building connections and empowering leaders to cultivate inclusive workplaces!
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?
Chance applies more than 20 years of experience in organizational culture, diversity, equity and inclusion, entertainment branding, global communications, investor relations and lobbying to help leaders and organizations unlock new financial, social impact and personal growth opportunities. Chance has served as a DEI and Communications strategic advisor to a variety of educational, social justice and corporate organizations including The Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Classy, GoFundMe, EY, Duck Creek Technologies and SkillsVR.
Chance led PR, marketing, investor relations and lobbying with XM and SiriusXM Radio. He later joined Discovery Communications, leading global marketing communications. Following Discovery’s investment with Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios to form OWN, Chance served as Oprah’s personal publicist while overseeing all media relations, social media, branding and social impact/philanthropy. Chance serves as Of Counsel with a Chicago-based firm specializing in social impact and social entrepreneur law.
A graduate of Boston University and Boston University School of Law, Chance was born in Ohio and now resides in Greenwich, Conn.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
Goodness, it’s hard to pick just one. What comes to mind right away is my time working as Oprah’s publicist. She had just finished the final season of The Oprah Show and was facing the daunting task of launching The Oprah Winfrey Network. Despite the early struggles, she asked me to prioritize ensuring the first graduation of her school for girls in South Africa was a success. Fortunately, press from around the world covered the event and that single day helped reshape the reputation of the school, which had several high-profile issues over the years. I find it pretty amazing with all the notoriety, wealth and influence, Oprah cared most about the perception of 72 girls from South Africa heading off to college. That time in my career continues to remind me that the stories we tell about people mean more than earnings, products, and awards.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
I started my professional career as a corporate attorney and then transitioned to management consulting. One of my clients back then was XM Satellite Radio. After that project ended, I joined the company to lead Communications. Suffice it to say I was inexperienced at PR and often felt overwhelmed. Sensing my anxiety, one of the executives pulled me to the side and said “Chance, don’t worry about your title because you’re really not here to be the PR guy — lots of people can do that job better than you right now. You’re really a problem solver. Whether it’s a legal issue, PR, finance, negotiations, community relations or whatever, you were hired to help us solve problems.” That idea of being a problem solve/fixer of sorts inspired me years later to remain focused on addressing real issues and not get swept up in titles, office politics and the drama of that often derails companies from reaching their full potential.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I’ve been fortunate to advise many companies at every stage and size. Understanding how to launch a new company, the challenges large companies face with leadership and communications issues (which often go hand-in-hand), how to navigate crisis or drive interest in a new product. That variety of skills and experience tends to cause our work with clients to expand over time. For instance, I was recently asked to speak at an executive retreat about the future of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in this era of divisive politics and social unrest. That session led to a 15-month engagement across communications, marketing, DEI and leadership coaching. Forming their DEI function from scratch and seeing it thrive today with measurable impact on their business results tells me we provide unique capabilities no matter how small the assignment appears in the beginning of the relationship with our clients.
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?
“Success” is a very malleable term, so I’ll share what it means for me knowing each of us has our own definition. What comes to mind first is I do make a conscious effort to personally connect with folks in my professional life. Going beyond the surface to engage as human beings (not just as clients or co-workers) with families, dreams, hardships and so on. In a sense, there’s no room for strangers in life. There’s a power in curiosity about others. A reciprocity that can cut through pre-conceived notions, false assumptions and hidden talents. Last month I was introduced to an investor who was interested in funding a client’s new digital learning product. We spent a majority of the conversation sharing about our personal journeys and then set aside extra time to meet again to discuss investing in other products in development. I like to say rapport opens doors.
Another trait is self-awareness. I’ve certainly come a long way to recognize it’s easy to lose a sense of self in our busy lives. I encourage others to pause and reflect on what is the story they have in their head about another person or situation. What is their role in the drama or issue? Accepting we all are deeply flawed and making a practice of stepping back to reflect on my own words, behaviors and thoughts continues to help me thrive. Just yesterday, I was in an emotionally charged conversation that was becoming more and contentious. When I paused momentarily and started listening intently to my own words, I realized I was no longer in conscious control of my thoughts about the issue at hand. That practice is a constant effort and yet it helps me be much more effective.
Last, I would say I am not committed to being right all the time. Very few of us feel comfortable saying “I don’t know” in a professional setting. I’ve hired and worked with so many talented people over the years and while I will tend to make a vigorous defense of my opinions and recommendations, creating a space for not having every answer or going in a different direction has helped me learn how to let go and focus on building rather than debating.
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?
Advising leaders on how to improve their corporate culture is a complex assignment. The truth is if everything was going well internally a company would not be seeking our support. Last summer a client’s internal survey surfaced lots of unfavorable feedback from employees. Our team recommended a set of steps to communicate the results which we knew would deviate from the client’s past practices and perhaps lead to our removal from the project. In that sense, there was no “good path.” However, our mantra is to help leaders “speak their truth” and sometimes speaking truth can have negative consequences. Fortunately, after a few uncomfortable conversations we did align on a new approach to sharing the concerns raised by the staff. In reality, how we navigated that conflict together established a meaningful example of what the leadership team could achieve to address the challenges with conflict reflected in the internal survey.
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?
We like to think of conflict resolution as the methods and strategies to effectively move on from disagreements, particularly in the workplace. In other words, how does one not “get stuck” or derailed by opposing views, opinions, approaches to challenges/problems/issues we face in our professional lives.
What are some common misunderstandings about Conflict Resolution that are important to clear up?
Well, certainly one misunderstanding is Conflict Resolution is not necessarily synonymous with compromise or concessions.
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?
How we navigate conflict really defines the outer limits of our capacity to lead and collaborate with others. In essence, the approaches and state of mind that come into play when we are in conflict puts our abilities as successful leaders on full display. In that sense, “success” does not mean effective leaders “win” every argument. Effective leaders can work through conflict and come out the other side achieving an outcome that directly addresses the issue and, in many cases, creates a win-win solution for all parties.
We like to think of conflict resolution as a set of skills to be fine-tuned and mastered. Put another way, just like any talent one develops in life (think public speaking, writing, playing the piano) conflict resolution comprises a set of skills the entire organization can utilize when modeled and supported by the leadership of the organization.
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?
We all have experience with workplaces, families or personal relationships where resolving conflict was not a strength. Small disputes become explosive situations. One or both parties feel attacked, shamed, marginalized, etc. Oftentimes a stalemate ensues, no progress can take place with each side now unwilling to engage at all. Another version of ineffective conflict resolution creates winners and losers. One side declares victory while the other carries a sense of defeat and ill will that lingers and, in a sense, destabilizes the fabric of the household or organization — creating a sense of fear, distrust and perhaps retaliation. That’s a cycle many organizations typically struggle to stop on their own.
Can you provide examples of how effective conflict resolution has led to increased team performance, collaboration, or innovation within your organization?
A recent example was a constant conflict between the CEO and COO. The CEO tended to avoid conflict altogether while the COO tended to verbally attack or praise the staff leaving no doubt about whether someone was a “good” or “bad” employee. Their ineffective conflict resolution habits cascaded across the company. Staff were not clear on the priorities or whether they were performing well. Operational problems were ignored or not fully disclosed and understood. Competition and siloes were commonplace.
Thankfully, the two leaders committed to a conflict resolution training program. In a matter of months their relationship shifted from essentially enemy combatants to a united front. Together they shared a common vision with the company. Issues that entangled progress were dealt with quickly and they figured out how to delegate decision-making between themselves or others to avoid unnecessary delays and moments of impasse. Soon the internal teams had greater clarity on goals and tended to collaborate rather than compete.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. 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. Objectively define the issue. This means state the problem or dispute without attaching it to your point of view. For example, in relation to a new policy for remote working, one executive may want a flexible policy while the other wants clear rules (remote work is permitted only on Fridays). An objective description would be we are deciding upon the terms of a new remote work policy rather than “John wants to force people to be in the office every day except Fridays.”
2. Do your homework. Understand why the other party is taking their position on the issue. Are there aspects of their position you may have overlooked, were not shared yet or perhaps you refused to hear? What benefits would arise from their position that may be missing in your approach to the issue? We’ve seen numerous examples of conflicts simply disappear when the merits of the “opponents” position were fully understood. For instance, additional data about employee productivity influenced a more stringent in-office requirement after weeks of arguments and impasse about changing the remote policy.
3. Look for a win-win solution. In many cases potential outcomes can include elements of what both sides are seeking. We try to avoid labeling this as a “compromise” — a term that implies a sense of loss. In reality, there may be aspects of what your opponent desires that you don’t oppose. In the case of a mandatory day in the office each week, if you agree that requirement is a good idea and the other party feels strongly about Fridays, there’s no need to fight for Mondays. Let go of that which is not vitally important to you.
4. Practice what you preach. Just like a speech or presentation, take the time to rehearse/prepare how you are going to state your position and raise questions or concerns about what your opponent wants. Similarly, be ready to respond calmly and clearly to direct questions about your position. If you’re struggling to anticipate what to say, find a neutral party or the nearest mirror. We also encourage participants in conflict to speak in private if possible. Creating a safe space to work through the issue can accelerate resolution of the matter. However, if the “debate” is going to happen in a group setting, practicing how to engage without interrupting or otherwise signaling you are attempting to win over the crowd — it’s fair to expect the same.
5. Maintain a future mindset. This means keep in mind (in many cases) you and your opponent will have to coexist after the issue is resolved. Speaking from a place a curiosity, kindness and collaboration, avoiding name-calling or negatively labeling their ideas — all these practices set the stage for a healthy relationship between the parties in the future when the matter at hand is in the rearview mirror and may be much less important.
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?
Most of the conflicts we see are sourced from poor communications. Different points of view are positioned as “bad” vs “good” ideas from the outset leading to an instant focus on the negative consequences of the opponent’s position. That’s why we emphasize objectively framing the issue and understanding their position before making the case for what you want. How you frame that discussion also requires deliberate communication. Stating “I want to understand your position on this issue, can you tell me more about x…” has a very different tone versus “I think x is a terrible idea. Why would you want to do that?”
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 had my wish everyone would experience the nonviolence training offered by The King Center in Atlanta. So much of what we see today in DEI training, conflict resolution and DEI training is sourced from the nonviolence methodologies and philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights era. The labels and terminology may change over time, but the core concepts remain the same. History has taught us that nonviolence is the only way to overcome violence, oppression and injustice. MLK used a very specific approach to shift the way people speak, think and behave. That approach to me reflects a state of mind influencing how we perceive others and what we are willing to do to benefit others without a focus on money, status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age and so on. The division we see today tells us our outsized attention or devaluation of those qualities inevitably leads to the destruction of our social fabric.
How can our readers further follow you online?
Follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/chancepatterson/ or at https://www.linkedin.com/company/idea-hall/
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: Chance Patterson Of Idea Hall On How Team Leaders Can Create The… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.