Why Great Leaders Embrace Conflict: Building Stronger School Leadership Teams #193

Episode 193

Conflict doesn’t have to divide your leadership team — in fact, when handled well, it can be the very thing that strengthens your culture, deepens trust, and drives innovation. In this episode, Dr. Mel unpacks why healthy conflict is essential for leadership teams and how you can start embracing it instead of avoiding it.

Whether it’s pushing back respectfully, hearing out different perspectives, or separating the person from the problem, you’ll walk away with practical strategies to shift conflict from something uncomfortable to something your team values.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why silence is more dangerous than conflict in leadership teams.
How diverse perspectives sharpen strategy and prevent blind spots.
Why pushback, when done with respect, builds trust instead of tearing it down.
Simple ways to separate the person from the problem so debate stays productive.
The long-term payoff of healthy conflict: stronger decisions, deeper trust, and greater innovation.

Action Step:
At your next leadership team meeting, assign one person to be the “challenger.” Their role is to respectfully question assumptions and highlight potential risks. Rotate this role at each meeting so every leader practices both advocacy and pushback.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen, Thanks for the Feedback
Harvard Business Review (2017), How to Preempt Team Conflict
Ken Blanchard, Leading at a Higher Level

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Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Podcast Episode Details

Why Great Leaders Embrace Conflict: Building Stronger School Leadership Teams #193