WWLD: What Would Lasso Do? Storytelling to Transform Conflict into Teamwork

We don’t have to look far these days to find conflict. So it’s not all that surprising to suggest that another seismic conflict is building in the workplace. And the pressure is building from two significant differences — generational and political.

First, the pandemic exposed major generational differences. Simply put: older managers want to return to in-office work while younger workers want to extend WFH indefinitely or at least flexibly. And second, some workers are resistant to mandated vaccinations because they feel it violates their rights or that it has been politicized beyond reason. Civic notions of freedom of speech have been appropriated by employees within private firms.

Forbes senior contributor, Michael Peregrine, recently went so far as to suggest the pressure build-up behind these two matters may well define the board’s future credibility on workforce cultural concerns. A misstep today may create problems in hiring and retaining valued employees, and setting and resetting strategic focus for generations ahead.

The unfortunate element of all this is that a powerful sense of right and urgency has caused some leaders to forgo thoughtful persuasion as a means to an end. Instead of convincing his department and team to follow, he’s resorted to demands…