Well what an interesting week in the political arena of the Republican nomination in the US. One candidate left out of a field of 17 with further states yet to vote. So does this mean there is a single choice only? It might seem so, but of course it is never as simple as that.

In the Mandt System we talk in our Relational Chapter – ‘Building Healthy Conflict Resolution’ about being creative or looking outside the box when there seems to only be one choice or option. Sometimes there is the option of doing nothing, not always a good choice but it remains one nonetheless. Another thought, can we change the rules or policy to allow something that had not previously been considered?

In Mandt we talk about striving for a Win-Win but being prepared to accept a compromise. A compromise may not always be possible but applying different, creative or less rigid thinking can sometime release to find an answer.

When we teach the Chapter above we have an exercise where a team has to find their way through a grid on the floor where a predetermined route has been set. At a key point the team becomes stuck and it seems to them that they cannot progress. At this point one person may get creative and try stepping outside of the grid, this is when they realize that no one ever said they could not do that, they just have assumed it was not an option.

To learn more about this and our other approaches to building healthy conflict resolution contact us at [email protected]

Simon Kemp