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

Conflict = Epidemic: How do you treat yourself? Use the advice from the United Nations.

Imagine you get a cold, because you don’t treat yourself, your cold turns into flu. Flu is contagious; therefore, you are now contaminating your surroundings. As a result, a good advice is to treat your cold before it gets worse.  Conflicts are like epidemic. If you don’t deal with them at an early stage, they would probably become more damaging. Nevertheless, this example concerns only your daily life. Thus, now, imagine you are living in a country infected by conflicts like in Darfur. Conflicts can take bigger proportions if they are not taking care of. The United Nations have understood this issue. Therefore, a few years ago, the international organization has established Peacekeeping Operations in order to promote peace in countries devastated by conflicts.

Many celebrities, such as George Clooney, have joined the movement in order to make people aware of the value of peace and the work of the UN Peacekeepers.

Many celebrities, such as George Clooney, have joined the movement in order to make people aware of the value of peace and the work of the UN Peacekeepers. However, as George Clooney says it in the video, "peace is certainly more than a celebrity endorsement". That is why, in order to find a way from conflict into peace, UN Peacekeeping has highlighted 3 basic principles:

 - Consent of the parties;

- Impartiality
- Non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the mandate.[1]

 These three basic rules could, actually, be applied by everyone on a daily basis. Of course, they have to be adapted to the situation. We do not really defend a mandate, but we certainly can reduce the amount of unnecessary conflicts. As a result, don't you believe that individuals should try to establish peace in their daily life; and then, maybe fewer countries would be torn by conflicts? The epidemic wouldn't spread anymore…

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[1] UNITED NATIONS, 2012. What is Peacekeeping ?. Available from: http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/peacekeeping.shtml