How do you recover from conflict when emotion creeps in and puts you in a regrettable position?
In a recent conflict resolution class, our participants engaged in a role play, where a leader sends an emotional message blaming someone else for a poor outcome.
Now we have two problems to consider:
First, the substantive issue remains unaddressed, plus now we have blaming, fairness and accountability issues in play making the situation much worse.
Participants report finding much better outcomes in these role play conversations, when the sender of the message takes a step back, reconsiders their position and apologizes for their initial emotion response.
We have two questions for you:
1. Would you consider an apology to your partner if you took time to step back and review your initial emotional statement, if that were ever you?
2. Would you be willing to accept such an apology and restart a conversation when someone blames you, without first taking accountability for their actions that contributed to the outcome?
Wishing you the best in your difficult conversations!
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