Facts of life

By Grant C. Robinson
Illustration: John Sapsford

Conflict is everywhere, and addressing it head on is important in turning it into a positive experience

We live in a world of constant change. The accounting profession is no different as it tries to adapt to the changing needs of its clients, who are trying to adapt their businesses to the changing needs of the marketplace. There isn't a firm or organization today that doesn't feel the pressures of change and an uncertain future. At times change is the only certainty we have going forward.

In managing change and dealing with the future, situations will arise that will create conflict. Conflict comes about when the status quo is no longer acceptable or when changes to it are needed and people have different ideas. Most of us don't like conflicts, be it with our partners, our organizations, our clients or our families. Most of us perceive it as a negative. It means disagreement and disagreement usually means a fight. But it doesn't have to be so.

Stepping back from the immediacy of the conflict, examining a simple formula can be useful in reminding one that conflict is inevitable and that there is no getting away from it.

FORMULA Success ←→ Change ←→ Conflict Confidence

This is a very valuable formula. Those who are successful are those who can adapt their businesses. Success causes change; change causes conflict. Take a close look at your clients who have been the most successful, and you will see they have adapted to the circumstances that confront them. For example, accounting firms that have bookkeeping as their mainstay have been facing increased competition from CGAs, CMAs and other bookkeeping firms. There has been a commoditization of the marketplace and we have moved from relationship-based businesses to commoditized bus-inesses where price is a key buying feature. Firms that have adapted for value-added products and moved to helping clients make decisions and solve problems have created relationship-based businesses. But the transition has not always been smooth. There was no clear track to follow, especially for the early adopters of change.

Take the national firms as an example. Many have had to change to a one-stop organization offering all services. Recent-ly many have refocused on the public accounting sector, divesting themselves of their other services. Such changes are fundamental both ways. However, such changes created conflict within these organizations. Did they have an option? No. These firms had to change and adapt to the marketplace. Conflict is a certainty.

When working with clients, or within your own organization, keep this formula in mind, with the understanding that the reverse is also true. Conflict can lead to change; change can lead to success. The challenge, of course, is having the confidence that the conflict will be positive. By positive conflict, one means the notion that you can disagree yet still move forward after talking to each other, getting the facts on the table and ultimately agreeing on some next steps and not getting stuck on the tactics or a conflict point.

To work through this, one needs to have confidence that while you may disagree, you will find a path forward. The confidence comes from ensuring that disagreements are future focused. Being future focused becomes important in situations that are filled with conflict or change. If you can relate to a common interest or common goal in your organization, or your clients can within their organizations or families, you can create positive conflict. If conflict is future focused —  focusing on the common interest, finding a way for people to be heard and getting the facts out  — you will find a way to reach a consensus.

The key component is having a common interest. If your group has a common interest that can be clearly articulated, it becomes a powerful catalyst in the conflict scenario. If your group does not have a common interest, it is unlikely you will ever find resolution and this probably will lead to a different discussion. For example, in family businesses when it comes to ownership issues, the common interest is not always to stay together and build the business. It may be that the common interest is to move apart in an organized, fair and equitable fashion. Similarly, when working with partners, if you are on the same page in terms of where you want to go and can refer back to this as a touchstone, then you have a powerful way of finding positive conflict. If you don't all want to go in the same direction, then there is a bigger issue. This holds true whether it's within a family business or a partnership. If you want to end up in different places, you need to step back and work on how to let everyone go to different places. How to move apart rather than how to solve problems and move forward together may be a separate discussion.

Given that in most scenarios you are together because there is a common interest, the key is to keep that in front of you and to allow yourself to use this as a touchstone to deal with any conflict.

Another feature is to create structures where the parties feel they can be heard. This requires meeting rules and allowing people to speak one at a time, allow questioning for clarification and permitting people to finish their thoughts so you understand what they are thinking. Creating a structure is logical. When anyone is dealing with a disagreement, structure often disappears. The focus on position overrides the structure. This leads to the most powerful person or position dominating. That can lead to negative conflict.

The final component of creating positive conflict is to get the facts on the table. Experience shows that in most organizations perception is reality and facts are negotiable. Every time you accept statements that "we all understand the facts and it's time to move forward to solve the problem," you can run into the problem of people not having the same facts. People's perceptions are their reality. They work from this perception or what they call facts. If you can confirm what everyone understands to be the facts, then you have an opportunity to move forward knowing you have a common ground.

If you step back and look at the three components, it becomes clear that there is a good chance of agreeing if:

• you have a common interest or want to accomplish the same thing,
• you have a safe place to talk to each other so that good communication can happen,
• you have confirmed, and all agree, that the facts are the same.

There has been research done on how often you can disagree and move forward. CDR Associates (www.mediate.org) of Boulder, Colo., has interesting information on creating positive conflict. It has developed a graphic that illustrates the key features of conflict.

The top half, which consists of values, relationships or history and moods or personalities, relate to the past. These areas should be understood and respected; however, working on changing them will likely lead to negative conflict. They are the past and you can't change the past.

The lower half represents the future. Focus on common interest, create structures and get the facts and you have a better chance of creating positive conflict.

Another source of information is the book Getting to Yes, by Roger Fisher. It is quite telling when it comments that it is likely readers would recognize themselves in what it describes. In fact, it says that you likely have been doing a number of these things intuitively but now that they are laid out in a process you have the confidence to bring a group to a common conclusion or create positive conflict.

We can add value within our own businesses and with our client base by understanding that conflict is a fact of life today. We need to embrace it and turn it into creating change that will lead our businesses and our clients' to greater success. It's not easy but it's necessary.

Grant C. Robinson, FCA, CFP, is a partner with Robinson & Company LLP in Guelph, Ont. He is CAmagazine's technical editor for Business Adviser.