Now in the twilight years of my career, my core aim is to contribute to the welfare and prosperity of people in an industry that's rife with high pressure, disengagement and churn, and yet is one that gave me so much joy and success for over 20 years - the world of advertising and media.
With this in mind, alongside my coaching, I'm researching the negative impact of ‘conflict’ within agencies & media owners, predominantly business development & account management teams, with a view to sharing my findings in a white paper or possibly my next book.
My Background
I was a high-performing Group Account Director, Head of Key Accounts & Strategic Account Management for Fortune 500 & FTSE 100 Media Owners.
Throughout my career in advertising, I was lucky enough to be recognised with multiple CEO ‘Distinguished Achievement’ & ‘Outstanding Business Contribution' awards, although none of these accolades came without their challenges and as someone responsible for bringing people and resources together to accomplish industry-leading results, there was one single area of focus that I believe, set us apart from our peers and competitors. Namely; our proactive approach to embracing and managing conflict.
You see, most people have a typically fearful or confused attitude towards conflict and they don’t grasp the fact that this approach undermines personal, team and business performance... and, because they fear and avoid the very subject of conflict, much of the damage goes unnoticed but costly nonetheless.
A proactive approach to conflict however, becomes a catalyst that accelerates individuals, teams and organisations to higher performance, exceptional growth and fulfilled potential. It...
- Makes 'uncomfortable' conversations 'comfortable & powerfully constructive'
- Brings ‘waring parties’ together and turns potential ‘battle fields’ into ‘fields of collaboration’
- Creates order out of chaos, clarity out of confusion and moves higher-level intelligence from low-level thinking
- Motivates the focus to be on ‘what’s good’ for the team and the bigger picture over ‘what’s good’ for one and not the other
When people invite and engage in unfiltered, constructive conflict around strong differences of opinion, opposing styles or methodologies, ideas flow and innovation occurs whereas ‘unrecognised or unresolved conflict' results in missed opportunities for growth.
When properly understood, conflict is good’… in fact 'Conflict Is The Way!'
If you're based in the UK or East Coast USA and would like to be involved in my research or see the findings once completed, please get in touch using the link below or email me directly at reecepye@reecepye.com
