Transcripts

Lynne Eisaguirre:
The research actually shows that organizations with more conflict are more creative than those with no conflict.

Lynne Eisaguirre, author of The Power of a Good Fight, says there are real benefits to fighting at work.

I think it's because people are bringing forth all of their creativity, all of their opinions, as opposed to organizations where that is not allowed, and so you don't have as much innovation.

But Lynne says it's all in how you fight.

You want to have good fights and I distinguish between good fights and bad fights. A good fight is, number one, about ideas, not personalities. Number two, fought by people who honor the value of conflict. Number three, fights that are opened, not masked, so not a conflict that's flying below the radar screen.

Fighting about ideas is a bit more intense than an open exchange of ideas.

What we want to have is not only an exchange of ideas, but people really engaged in the process. So if you just have an open exchange of ideas, is there really that conflict which creates energy, creates a spark that can lead to something new and different? Conflict is really just change that's trying to happen. So it's not so much "You're wrong and I'm right," but that if we're willing to have a good dialogue, if we're willing to have a good fight about the issue, we might come up with a list of creative ideas that we haven't even thought of before.

For transcripts and our free newsletter, visit our website: somethingyoushouldknow.net. I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.