Recently, one of our client teams found themselves facing a difficult decision. 

They realized that two functions they’d always kept separate really belonged under one leader. Keeping them separate created unnecessary complexity, causing extensive debates about overlapping resources, workflow and priorities. Combining them would eliminate confusion, increase speed and quality, and make the company more responsive to its customers. That part was easy. 

The hard part? 

My son didn’t like what he heard from me, so he went to his mom and got the answer he wanted. We call this “the end-run,” -- it also happens in business. 

For example, have you ever experienced dissension in your organization where employees sided with one leader over the other? It’s like a reality show where alliances are created to overtake the other party.

I often remind my clients that an issue is just that… an issue. 

In other words, there is nothing they can’t solve. It’s simply that some issues are bigger and more emotionally charged than others.

People issues usually top the list as the toughest to take on. Many leaders delay addressing these problems because they fear they will be painful and result in unpleasant outcomes. Good problem solving is like reaching the eye of a hurricane.

Two workers in the Operations Department of a company were working one Friday evening to push out a late delivery. One saw a problem about to happen and said to the other, “Look at that!  We can’t ship this out. This order is not correct.”

“You’re right,” said the other, “But neither one of us can fix it. Nobody can fix it until Monday. The boss told us to get this shipment out tonight, and we’ll get yelled at if we don’t. Remember what he did the last time something like this happened?”

So out the order went, and in came an angry customer complaint two days later when the order was delivered. And then out went a chunk of the profits from the order because it cost the company three times as much to fix the error than it would have to get it right the first time.

Some of the best meetings that I’ve been in lately are the ones where members of the leadership team challenge each other.

There’s debate and pushback and the discussions are heated. Each person is actively engaged, putting the greater good of the organization ahead of personal agendas. Sometimes the feedback they give each other stings a little. But, when the dust settles there’s clarity around the root cause. Conflict creates clarity.