Workplace Conflict Resolution: Nancy Stewart Of Talent Alchemists On How Team Leaders Can Create The Right Environment To Resolve Conflicts
An Interview With Eric Pines
Conflict is inevitable, so it is best to plan for it in advance. As a team, create a framework for identifying, processing, and resolving conflicts when they arise. Group training in conflict competence can help set these ground rules and provide common language and tactics for navigating conflict.
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 Nancy Stewart.
Nancy Stewart is a seasoned HR leader with over a decade of executive experience in the software and healthcare industries. She is the Founder of Talent Alchemists, an HR consulting organization that focuses on building people-centric corporate cultures. Nancy has an MA degree in Career Counseling and strongly believes in the value of direct, transparent, and kind communication as a cornerstone of effective leadership. On a mission to elevate work environments, Nancy has coached over 1,000 managers and employees on conflict resolution and transformational leadership skills.
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?
Thank you for inviting me to this interview series; I’m delighted to share my unique background with your readers.
The summer after I graduated high school, my “corporate life” began at NASA in their ‘personnel’ department. On my first day, my manager, smoking a long, brown, clove cigarette, handed me a stack of several hundred engineering job applications and tasked me with calling everyone to determine their interest in a new opening. Here I was, a kid who knew nothing about nothing calling literal rocket scientists. What I lacked in knowledge, I made up for in equal parts moxie and work ethic. The HR seed was sown.
Fast forward about 4 years; I was an intern at the Federal Quality Institute, an initiative in the ’90s aimed at making the government more efficient and nimble. Here, I was first exposed to concepts like total quality management and six sigma; and, thankfully, no longer exposed to secondhand smoke. My interest in productive, people-centric workplaces blossomed.
I continued to wear many hats in my HR journey, including talent acquisition, training, and employee relations. My career turning point, though, came while pursuing an MA degree in Career Counseling at the University of San Diego. This program fine-tuned my communication skills and infused my PeopleOps work with tactics from the psychology field. Coaching employees on EQ and conflict resolution skills became an essential component of my HR programs.
After two stints as an SVP of PeopleOps and a few years as a General Manager with full P&L responsibilities, I launched my own consulting business, Talent Alchemists, a bold venture to disrupt traditional HR practices. My aim is to create more engaging, rewarding, and inclusive cultures so employees can reach their full potential and companies can maximize their results. A win-win for both parties, that, I believe, can be achieved through innovation and education.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
HR is chock full of interesting stories; I’ve given thought to writing a book about all the wild and wacky situations I’ve encountered. I’ll share a story, now, that is deeply personal and transformative.
Many years ago, I found myself the lone female manager on a team — a recurring theme throughout my career. An offsite, golfing weekend was planned for all the male managers and senior executives. My invite must have gotten lost in the mail. I mustered the courage to ask my boss about the exclusion. His reply left me shocked and hurt, “You would be the only woman, so it would be uncomfortable.” Young, inexperienced, and lacking the confidence to navigate this conflict, I simply walked away; quickly, before the tears gathering in my eyes were noticed.
If I could go back in time, with the knowledge and empowerment I now possess, I would ask “It would be uncomfortable for whom?” Then, follow up with, “Let’s brainstorm how I can be included.” My younger self didn’t know how to harness the power of clear, direct communication.
The short conversation had a lasting impact on me and my worldview. No longer am I silent in the face of discrimination. My voice is now a clear, confident, and potent tool to address inequities and resolve conflicts. Most importantly, my purpose, both personal and professional, is to “level the playing field for historically excluded groups,” Talent Alchemists achieves this by elevating HR leaders and programs. The promise I’ve made to myself, and my sphere of influence, is to “move the needle with every interaction.” If my words and ideas trigger thought and introspection, I’ve accomplished something powerful, something special.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
My all-time favorite life quote is from Jim Valvano, a renowned basketball coach who passed away in 1993 after a brave battle against cancer. In his legendary ESPY speech for the Arthur Ashe Courage & Humanitarian Award, he gifted us this beautiful sentiment, “If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”
In the face of his mortality, Jimmy V. offered us a compelling message about the meaning of our existence. Life is about connection with others, using our minds, and feeling the entirety of the human experience. This quote not only reminds me to make the most of my days but it also impacts my leadership style.
When I first stepped into a management role I was all business, strictly by-the-book. After hearing the feedback from people who knew both sides of me, the office me and the “fun me,” I realized the importance of bringing my whole self to work. I began to share moments of laughter and vulnerability with my team, creating authentic connections and fostering an environment of trust and empathy. In Jimmy’s words, by consistently being human, I was creating “something special.”
Do yourself a huge favor and watch Jimmy V’s ESPY speech which will undoubtedly make you laugh, think, and cry.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Talent Alchemists is less than a year old and already making waves. I’d love to tell you that our success is due to my disruptive approach to human resources. Or, from the fact that I have an extremely unique background in leading both PeopleOps and Operational departments. Those aren’t the reasons. The real driving force is my unwavering commitment to my promise I talked about earlier, using my voice to move the needle in every interaction. At this stage of my life and career, I’m not afraid of criticism, pushback, or career repercussions. What motivates me now is living my truth; an authenticity that is reflected in Talent Alchemists’ purpose, promise, niche, and values.
At times, my approach to coaching and adherence to direct, but kind, communication can ruffle feathers, particularly with those who aren’t ready for introspection. Ruffled feathers typically don’t turn into clients for Talent Alchemists. Just the other day, I lost a handful of LinkedIn followers, and most likely a few prospects, because I spoke out as a dissenting voice on a thought leader’s post, highlighting the impact of unrecognized privilege on their perspective. Not everyone appreciated or agreed with my comment or the fact that I made it public on social media. I’m 100% okay with that; I moved the needle.
Plus, the followers that stick with me are the people ready to make meaningful changes to work cultures and leadership styles. These are my people.
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?
Successful leaders certainly share common traits — high EQ, problem-solving skills, and strong communication abilities — yet each leader brings their own spin to the role; something authentic that allows them to stand out and engender trust and connection. For me, those 3 unique characteristics are self-awareness, decisiveness, and tenacity.
Self-awareness has been critical to my success as it allows me to play to my strengths and ask for guidance when needed. Knowing who I am enables me to connect on a deeper, authentic level with others. And, self-awareness is the secret sauce to “style-flexing” — adapting my communication style — to motivate and develop others.
Decisiveness has positively influenced my leadership journey. As I tell my leadership clients, no decision is a decision, a terrible one where you’ve relinquished all control. Quickly and confidently making well-informed decisions is crucial to leadership. Thankfully, I embraced this skill early in my career.
Tenacity is core to my personality and, therefore, my leadership style. I love a challenge and approach each with the belief that I will succeed. Then, I keep at it until the job is done. As a word of caution, don’t confuse tenacity with rigidity. Sometimes sticking with a problem until the end means knowing when to pivot. Often a pivot is the most rewarding part of the challenge.
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?
Certainly; I will share a memorable moment while consulting on an acquisition, tasked with evaluating all of the target’s people programs and practices. As I dug into the massive amounts of information relevant to the deal, a nagging sense settled over me. I encountered vague policies, incomplete answers, and unusual timidity among the employees. I did not encounter a smoking gun.
I found myself at a crossroads; speak up about my gut feeling or stay quiet. The acquisition was a multi-million dollar deal, and critical to the organization’s revenue growth. As you might have guessed based on the impactful career story I shared earlier, I chose to speak up. I was the lone dissenting voice on proceeding with the deal.
My decision came with a fair amount of heat. No one wanted a deal to dissolve over HR issues. While I justified my instincts, pointing to potential legal issues and cultural hurdles, I lost this battle. The acquisition went forward and I doggedly coached the HR leader on managing the nightmare ahead. For two days.
On the second day of owning this company, the smoking gun arrived — rampant issues of harassment perpetrated by leadership, complete with a secret love nest (I told you I have interesting HR stories!). This revelation led to a team of lawyers to reverse the deal, lost cash, and an adjustment to the revenue growth strategy. I promise you, it did not lead to me uttering “I told you so,” out loud.
This was a huge lesson for me and the leadership team. People and cultural issues have the potential to trump all else. They deserve as much attention as financial reports and operational strategies. For me, speaking up reinforced my stance on confidently using my voice, even if the outcome is uncomfortable.
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?
My definition of conflict resolution, influenced by my educational background in counseling, is two, or more, parties engaging to eliminate disagreement. When I discuss conflict resolution in the workplace, I emphasize constructive conflict management, where the goal is to collaboratively and productively work toward a common objective.
An activity I use with my leadership clients is developing a working definition of constructive conflict resolution with their team members. Most of those definitions sound something like, “proactively eliminating differences to achieve our team objectives while maintaining trust and professionalism.”
What are some common misunderstandings about Conflict Resolution that are important to clear up?
Three myths about conflict immediately come to mind.
The first misunderstanding is “conflict is compromise.” These are completely different concepts. Compromise is about reaching a state where there is mutual “happiness.” You’ll notice none of my definitions above reference everyone being happy.
In a business setting, the ultimate target is achieving agreed-upon objectives in a professional, motivating environment. These objectives often take precedence over individual goals. Constructive conflict aims to move the team toward these targets in the best possible manner. The desired outcome isn’t to please everyone but rather to effectively align efforts to the shared objectives. This approach holds true when dealing with conflicting ideas or conflicting personalities.
The second, and extremely pervasive, myth is “conflict is contentious.” When I teach conflict competency courses, I’d estimate over 95% of the participants start the class believing conflict is about winners and losers, mental and emotional anguish, and the possible stomach ache. Constructive conflict resolution is the exact opposite of contention. It is an act of collaboration and profound trust.
Viewing conflict as an opportunity for growth and innovation is a mental shift that can bolster workplace dynamics. Authentic conflict becomes a gift, fostering team development, sparking innovation, and boosting personal growth. Embracing conflict demonstrates a commitment to shared goals and team members.
The third misunderstanding is “all workplace friction is conflict.” Sometimes conflict isn’t conflict; in fact, a lot of the time perceived conflict is a product of our own minds, creating a mountain out of a miscommunication. Having timely, frank, and kind conversations can prevent non-issues from escalating to conflict.
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?
Simply put, for a team to achieve high performance, they must operate in a respectful environment that garners trust and connection. Conflict is unavoidable. How conflict is addressed and resolved can make or break a team’s success. Poorly handled or ignored conflict will undermine the foundation of trust, respect, and belonging. A clearly deployed process to resolve conflict will fortify the team’s foundation and allow them to reach peak performance.
Additionally, creating this safe, respectful environment creates a space for everyone to speak up and be heard, including those whose voices tend to get lost in the corporate world, women, minorities, and neurodivergent individuals. An inclusive team is a stronger team.
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?
Chances are most of us have been in a work situation where conflict was poorly managed or ignored. I am also guessing that most of us remember exactly what that feels like — unsettling, stressful, frustrating, demotivating. I literally can’t think of a single positive outcome from ignoring or mismanaging conflict.
Deconstructive or nonexistent conflict management will kill innovation, cooperation, trust, and belonging.
Can you provide examples of how effective conflict resolution has led to increased team performance, collaboration, or innovation within your organization?
As a consultant, I have the incredible privilege of witnessing the turn-around of many teams from underperformers to high-achieving powerhouses. A great example that comes to mind involves a veterinary hospital team of about 50 people.
This team was losing revenue rapidly, to the tune of a 50% loss in 18 months. The pivotal focus of their improvement was the creation of productive communication avenues, particularly honing their conflict resolution skills. Initially, the doctors and technicians (aka, nurses) found themselves at odds regarding the hospital workflow, resulting in a stalemate. The doctors dictated the workflow, the technicians subverted the process.
The steps to resolving their conflict encompassed several steps:
- Identifying a common hospital objective to align the team.
- Establishing communication standards within the group.
- Implementing regular meetings to address and resolve issues.
The 18 months that followed were remarkable. As conflicts were constructively addressed, dialogue about shared solutions prospered. The team experienced an amazing transformation. An entirely new and more efficient hospital workflow was created, with input from doctors and technicians. The hospital surpassed previous revenue records by 25% and profitability rose by 300%. You don’t get a much better advertisement for constructive conflict resolution than those results!
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”?
1 . Unite the team around a common, overarching purpose.
Before conflicts arise, it’s crucial to establish a unifying mission for the team. A shared purpose acts as conflict kryptonite, obliterating friction before it takes root. When actions are aligned toward a common target, disagreements become collaborative opportunities to achieve goals.
An executive team I once worked with faced a hybrid work schedule dilemma, some wanting 4 or more days a week on-site, others opting for only 2 days in the office. By using their mission statement, which emphasized becoming “an employer of choice,” as their guiding principle, they resolved the conflict as a united front.
2 . Establish ground rules for addressing conflict.
Conflict is inevitable, so it is best to plan for it in advance. As a team, create a framework for identifying, processing, and resolving conflicts when they arise. Group training in conflict competence can help set these ground rules and provide common language and tactics for navigating conflict.
A creative approach to conflict management I employed with a software development team involved implementing a lighthearted “code” term to alleviate the fear of initiating a challenging conversation. “There is pineapple on my pizza,” was the signal they agreed to for broaching difficult discussions. Others would then know to put on their best constructive conflict resolution hats.
3 . Model and encourage desired behaviors.
As a team leader, your behavior sets the tone for the team’s culture. Acting as if you have all the right answers will kill innovation and dialogue within the team. To cultivate open communication, encourage constructive conflict, and foster respect for differing opinions, lead by example. Ensure everyone has an opportunity to contribute to brainstorming sessions, invite “devil’s advocates” to challenge ideas, and welcome tough questions during leadership Q&A calls. By displaying vulnerability and allowing dissenting voices, you build an environment where constructive dialogue thrives.
4 . Incorporate conflict management questions into 1:1 meetings.
As a leader, you are hopefully conducting weekly check-ins with each team member. These meetings are an opportunity to delve deeper into employee experiences and address potential conflicts. Ask questions to seek out possible conflict, such as, “Are you dealing with any lingering conflicts right now?” “What do you need more of or less of from me to be successful?” “Anything getting in the way of you enjoying your work?”
One-on-one meetings are a safe space for employees to calmly and productively identify and solve issues.
5 . Reward team victories.
Team achievements are the work of the whole group; celebrate collective wins to promote collaboration and minimize individual competition. By incentivizing teamwork, conflicts shift from a quest for individual recognition to alignment on the best path forward for achieving shared goals.
A Client Success team I worked with experienced significant gains in employee and client satisfaction goals when their bonus program was revamped to include a departmental component. Focusing on team objectives rather than solely on individual performance brought about greater employee cooperation. Rewarding team victories is a great way to stop conflict before it starts.
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?
Poor communication is the biggest source of team conflict. Whether it’s team members not discussing a brewing issue, employees not speaking up when they feel mistreated, or leaders giving vague guidance to struggling team members, breakdowns in communication inevitably lead to conflict.
Nine times out of ten if people talk to one another directly, clearly, and kindly, in the moment, disruptive conflict can be avoided. As I mentioned before, creating ground rules to address conflict is a key component for a leader to build a productive, constructive work environment. Regular team-building exercises can also promote trust and open communication between team members.
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. 🙂
Wow, there are so many critical issues that face us as a society; it is hard to pick one. Top of mind for me in recent years is the rapid increase in mental health issues. Did you know the World Health Organization estimates over 1 billion people have a mental health challenge? In the United States, over 25% of the population struggles with mental health. The numbers are staggering.
I believe the surge in mental health issues is a consequence of our growing disconnect from one another and the world around us. Humans are a social species; connection to community and nature is wired into our DNA. If I could start any movement it would be to reconnect humans to humanity. Efforts would focus on finding time to bond with our friends, family, and communities. The top 3 initiatives would be a push for a 4-day work week, the development of K-12 mental health curriculum, and the creation of more community green space. For a quick start, we could all just implement some unplugged hours in our week.
How can our readers further follow you online?
I love exchanging ideas with others. Please find me on LinkedIn or my TalentAlchemists.com blog.
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.
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