Jane
and Brian were totally angry when they got to know Gavin’s plans to organize a
meeting with the goal of changing what had worked for many years. Over the last
decade, the Arts Council had the same board members and the same program of
activities. Over time, the Tinyville Arts Council has shrunk in the numbers of
members, and the participation for each event was decreasing. The Arts Council
had started to outlive its purpose by failing to meet the cultural needs of the
community.
Gavin
tried to explain his actions to Jane on the phone, but she turned a deaf ear.
The president of the Tinyville Arts Council accused him of taking over the
board with a hostile move. Those accusations were by far unrealistic. All he
wanted was a change so that people would take the work of the Council seriously
again and that the community could see the benefits of the organization.
Gavin
told Jane to calm down and that they should all have an emergency meeting as
soon as possible to discuss Gavin’s actions and to prepare the official board
meeting. With this, he cut Jane short and hung up.
Right
after, a storm of emails broke loose and everyone agreed to meet the next day
for an emergency meeting.
Gavin was nervous and
doubted if the idea to call for an election was right without talking first to Jane
Know-It-All (President), Brian
No-Decision (Vice President), Shonda
Detailed (Secretary), Mark
Don’t-Spend (Treasurer), and George
Let-Me-Do-It (Board Member).
Gavin
realized that he created a conflict that could have easily been avoided. He
started preparing himself for the meeting. Thinking about how he could solve
this unwanted situation, Gavin found a solution:
- Writing down all
the facts that led him to his actions
- Planning on how to
present his apology
Gavin
went to the meeting and waited until everyone went inside.
When
he thought everyone was ready for the meeting, he went inside and started
talking without giving anyone a chance to say anything. While he was
apologizing, he handed out a piece of paper with all the things he was so
concerned about. Gavin explained that changes needed to be made with passion
and respect. He wanted to comply with the needs of the community and to bring
the Tinyville Arts Council back to their Mission and Vision statement. He went
on to say that he was sorry about how he handled his frustrations. The room got
quiet after Gavin’s speech, and people started to think about what he was
saying and agreed.
How
to solve a conflict:
- Appoint a mediator
- Agree to disagree;
the reached compromise will settle the conflict
- Don’t point fingers
- Prepare the
scenario and the environment of the meeting
- Have all the facts
written down
- Present the problem
as a team problem
- Lead or have
someone else lead the meeting with focus on team solutions
- All members should
participate in the solution-finding process
- Keep emotions out
(if the team gets emotional, remind everyone that no one is on trial)
- Keep meeting in a
time frame
- Brainstorm –
everyone should write down words or phrases and post them so everyone can
see it (Smartboard, whiteboard, etc.)
- Mediator should
categorize the posts with help from the participants
- The categories and
the found words and phrases should be used to define a solution and new
rules, if necessary,
- Make these new
rules binding for the future
Stay tuned to see how the Give-A-Hoots change the world of this small volunteer organization.
