The Age Of Wellbeing : A new leadership model for a happier world by Green David

Author:Green, David [Green, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-03T16:00:00+00:00

As far as I am aware more recent research hasn’t particularly advanced this categorisation of friendship, although what is clear is that friendships are good for our wellbeing. They help us share problems and “A problem shared is a problem halved”. In itself this can help us feel more secure and protect us against stress.

Along the same theme friends can provide us with new perspectives and different ideas about how to approach challenges and opportunities in our lives. In their simplest form friends can just be good fun. They can help us laugh, play, raise our spirits and provide us with a distraction from problems in our lives. But friendship is also about give and take. When we give to others it makes us feel good.

Friendships develop naturally and they can’t be forced, but leaders can play a role in creating circumstances where friendships can evolve. In the community, starting a neighbourhood watch or befriending scheme might be one example. In the workplace, creating a meeting place or mechanism for ex-employees to connect might be another.

The point is that friendships are good for our wellbeing so as a leader we can help facilitate them by creating the right circumstances and environment. Of course, friendships can sometimes deteriorate and cause conflict, so as a leader we also need to be prepared.

Managing Conflict

There will always be times when relationships come into conflict. As a leader, we require effective strategies for managing personal, team, and organisational conflicts. Both Covey and Carnegie reflect the importance of apologising, and as a leader this is one simple way to set the tone and manage conflict before it escalates. Be prepared to apologise quickly if you are the source of the problem.

The CIPD Survey report April 2015 “Getting Under The Skin of Conflict: Tracing the Experiences of Employees” 2 found that: “nearly four in ten UK employees (38%) report some form of interpersonal conflict at work in the last year. This includes an isolated dispute or incident of conflict (29% of UK employees reporting at least one case), and ongoing difficult relationships (28%).” Whilst the report only cites 1 in 10 of these conflicts resulting in an employee leaving the organisation, when you combine this with the obvious impacts that there will be on stress, motivation, sickness absence, and productivity, the costs to our organisations can be significant.

This survey found that the largest contributor to incidents of conflict was personality or styles of working, noted as “relational issues”. However task-based issues were also prevalent, particularly in the areas of individual performance, target setting, and the level of support or resources.

Interestingly, these conflicts are most common with one’s superiors, indicating the importance of power dynamics between different levels in an organisation. It is paramount that leaders and managers understand how to manage and navigate these situations to diffuse them before they escalate.

The report also highlights a requirement for both formal and informal processes to provide flexible solutions to conflict resolution. Whilst a formal process can be seen as

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