Collaboration: Using Conflict for Finding the "Best" Right Answer to Safety

Google defines Collaboration as the action of working with someone to produce or create something. Ralph Kilmann on the Thomas Kilmann Instrument (TKI) says this - Collaborating: The Most Complex and Least Understood Conflict Mode. I like to talk about collaboration as a group of individuals trying to get to the “best” right answer through conflict. To me the conflict modes that Kilmann talks about are more like interaction styles. This interaction may take days or hours or seconds but allowing crew or team members to have different opinions, conflicting opinions, may at times of great stress, be the only thing that can save the lives of those at stake. Whether helping a helicopter pilot decide if he should try and go around a storm, or medical crew members trying to decide what course of action to take for a patient that is deteriorating fast. The more your team shares conflicting ideas, the faster you may end up with the right answer that is best for all. In this presentation we will look at 5 conflict modes, how they relate to different personalities and discuss when each mode may be best used and which mode you may be most likely to start with while trying to come up with the BEST right answer on how to best accomplish your task as a team. Bring your smart phone to participate in live polling and see if collaboration comes natural to you.