It’s Friday. And if you’re a Getting Things Done fan, Friday means it’s time for your weekly review, the time to tie up loose ends from the current week, identify and plan next actions on tasks and projects, and essentially set the stage for starting off next week in a fresh, productive way.

But what if staff interpersonal issues or disputes are on your plate? Since difficult group or team dynamics at work can mean a real challenge to your otherwise good productivity, wouldn’t it be nice if you could add a single question to your weekly review, one that can help you transform workplace conflict situations and create movement forward?

Most people don’t think to include a workplace dispute in a weekly review because you don’t think of it as a “task” or a “project” in quite the same way that you manage other workplace tasks. But you could make think of it that way, just by re-labeling it.

When you make the management of a workplace conflict part of your normal productivity routine, you begin to give it manageable form in the same way you do other workplace projects. By thinking of a dispute or disagreement as a relationship project, you can help yourself chunk it down into smaller next actions that make up the greater whole and help you reach your goal (assuming you’ve set yourself a reasonable conflict resolution goal and not one that’s doomed to failure).

So, if you’re facing conflict at work, either as a participant or as a supervisor, get it off your Someday/Maybe list (if it’s even there yet) and include it in your weekly review. Ask yourself, What interactions are getting in the way of work and what’s the very next action I can take to begin changing that? Talk about greater productivity!

Copyright © 2007 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.