05/09/2025

Managing Conflict at Work

Encourage team members to focus on “how” rather than “why”

On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln became the 16^th president of the United States. Lincoln could have appointed partisans to lead the nation during a looming crisis. Instead, he created a cabinet composed of highly opinionated, stubborn, and influential leaders.

Lincoln selected former Republican Party rivals for three of the most important cabinet positions. He appointed Democrats to build bipartisan support: All six secretaries were more educated, better known, and had more government experience than Lincoln (Chervinsky, 2020; Goodwin, 2006).

In other words, President Lincoln structured his leadership team to produce conflict. In this post, we will discuss we discuss why leaders should structure productive conflict and how to do it well.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Psychology Today.