None of us gets through life without conflict. The ability to manage it well can lower your stress and improve your relationships.
But navigating conflict is not always easy.
Depending on the root of the disagreement and the stakes, it can feel vital to convince the other person you’re right. Sometimes though, it turns out you’re the one that needs to change your mind (don’t you hate it when that happens?).
If the next step after the conflict is a joint decision or an action, we can rely on my Meta-Problem℠ Methodology to figure out where the disagreement lies. For daily use, I’ve simplified my method to three steps:
What are your goals?
What are your options?
How do your goals and your options connect?
If we can agree on the list of goals, the set of options, and how to analyze the options based on the goals, we will be lined up to agree on the decision.