Don’t Get Emotional - Focus on the Solution: How Gavin Give-A-Hoot Deals With a Conflict

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.