More from Vantage Partner's Alliance University class delivered by Stu Kliman.
Curiosity - genuine and honest curiosity, is a critical mindset for successful alliance managers. This is the mindset for effective conflict resolution. Why?
When we are in the midst of conflict with our partner or with an internal stakeholder, we tend to assume our intentions are good (and we are "right"), but we don't always extend the benefit of the doubt to our partners. We assume we understand their intentions (bad) and that we are in full possession of all the facts.
The fact is, the only thing we know with certainty is what's going on in our own head!
Understanding our partner's interests and intents requires breaking through our "certainty" and adopting a mindset of curiosity. "Hmmn, she has a completely different take on this situation than I do. I wonder what data she's looking at? I wonder what's her reasoning is? I wonder why she feels this way". These are the questions that start a learning dialog.
And curiosity, genuine and true curiosity about our partners interests and intents, is the starting point to resolving conflict in our alliance relationships.
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