Question
What is conflict?
Answer
We think of conflict as battle, strife, disagreement, screaming unsettled. An example was the people at the gas station from my earlier story arguing and angry. You may immediately get this adverse reaction when I say the word burp like it is gross. However, as a respiratory therapy team, what is burping? It expels the extra gas we need to get out of our bodies. If we did not, it would have many adverse reactions. Burping, even though at first, it is like, ugh, but when we think about it, it is natural and necessary. If I said sweat, we might think sweat is gross, but we know it is how our body cools and regulates our body temperature. If we think of passing gas, we may think it is gross. Again, we know that we are expelling gas from our bodies. As adverse and gross as it sounds, it is natural and necessary. Like conflict, we often think of it as adverse I do not want to deal with it, but as we navigate relationships, conflicts are naturally necessary. They can be positive, mature, healthy, communicate, productive, and helpful. It is necessary. It is good. One of the main ways we can successfully navigate conflict is by first changing our mindset that all conflict does not have to be awful. Implementing strategies effectively could be natural, necessary, mature, and productive.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Effective Conflict Management Between Multidisciplinary Teams, presented by Mira Rollins, OTR/L..
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