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O P I N I O N
T his time he went too far. Milo, your senior engineer, will not budge on his code interpretation, no matter what or who is involved. Milo has his codes memorized. Usually that’s an asset. Where it becomes a liability is when his strong opinion ignores a client need for more artful interpretation. Avoiding conflict avoidance Handle the difficult conversations by knowing who you are, learning about other people, and knowing what’s needed to win.
Julie Benezet
Jeremy’s eyes narrowed. “Looks like I’ll have to visit your president, again.” Now you have a frustrated client and a badly behaved colleague. You and Jeremy will work things out. But what about Milo? You hate “Fear of conflict is ubiquitous in the work world. At its heart lies the fear of not knowing how another person will react to a potential disagreement. The person might argue, turn silent, become emotional, or leave the room. Any of these responses can be uncomfortable.”
In the past, you have jumped in to smooth things over. After all, the client pays the bills. The client talks, you listen. With more information, you make the code work. Milo says nothing and sulks. The client emerges happy and Milo revives. However, you resent the time you spend compensating for Milo’s rigidity. It takes away from your most critical role of pursuing new clients. So far, you’ve done nothing about it. Then came yesterday’s meeting with Jeremy Archibald, a design firm CEO that sends you many projects. Jeremy loves to push the envelope with designs requiring creative code interpretation. “No way!” squawked Milo after Jeremy insisted on a curvilinear building facade. Then Milo decided to get personal. “I’m sick of you artist types not respecting engineering standards. The code is there to produce sound, safe design, not to enhance your vanity!”
See JULIE BENEZET, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER May 22, 2017, ISSUE 1201
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