What will you sacrifice to meet your business goals?

I discovered a weird fact this morning: apparently, F. Hollande and N. Sarkozy, French presidential candidates, have a common ancestor; and therefore, they are cousins[1]. Despite this relationship, these two candidates are rivals and publicly denigrate each other. I admit that you don’t necessarily have to get along with every member of your family. However, this specific situation is actually quite funny and even a bit absurd. In fact, only recently their relationship has been pointed out in French media; however, their hatred, or let’s say their strong opposition, against each other is quite well known in France for a couple of years now. By being from the same family we could actually expect from these 2 people to be at least a bit friendly and cordial with each other. But it seems that when business goals are involved, your own interest can be more important than your family and your friends. Conflicts can arise from everywhere.

 A few days ago, with some classmates, we ran a workshop about friendships in a business context and how conflict can arise. As we demonstrated during the workshop, friends and business goals don’t necessarily match. In fact, you may expect more from your friends in a business context than in the daily life; therefore, conflict might arise. As far as I’m concerned, I believe that friends and business partners should be differentiated. Without a high degree of assertiveness and active listening from both sides, the friendship may not survive against business goals; which is quite sad. An assertive behaviour is promoted when you express your own rights in a cordial manner, without violating the other one’s needs. Active listening can be helpful to gain an assertive behaviour. In fact, by listening actively, you show to your friend that you have understood his/her position. However, resolving conflict with these two techniques can be quite time-consuming and it demand willingness to resolve the conflict from both parties. Are you ready to make this effort? Or are you ready to lose your friends for your business or vice versa? It can be a tricky situation.

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[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nicolas-sarkozy/9121972/Sarkozy-and-Hollande-are-cousins-descended-from-same-17th-century-peasant.html

BACK & BACK, 2005. Assertiveness at Work: A Practical Guide to Handling Awkward Situations. 3^rd ed. Maidenhead: McGraw Hill

MINDTOOLS, 2012. Conflict Resolution: Resolving Conflict Rationally and Effectively. [online] [viewed 18^th April 2012]. Available from: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_81.htm