I live in the he North East of England and it is footballing hotbed. In fact it is a religion for the people of the area.
Newcastle and Sunderland are the two biggest football clubs in the North East and the population of Tyne and Wear are generally deeply divided by support for the black and white stripes of Newcastle or the Red and White stripes of Sunderland.
It is generally accepted that you can only be part of one tribe so you pick your colours at a young age and there is no going back. As Bruce Hornsby would say That’s just the way it is.
If you go to St James Park you will hear the Newcastle fans chant Howay the Lads.
If you go to the Stadium of Light you will hear the Sunderland fans chant Ha’way the Lads.
Both chants mean the same but the if you tried to convince either set of fans their variation of the spelling or pronunciation was wrong you would likely be kicked from penalty spot to penalty spot…. it is not up for debate from either side.
This post however, is not about football. It is about the impact of division and polarisation in society today and the impact it has. The above is to provide some context to explore….
- A much wider serious trend affecting global politics at presents
- Consider how Division and Polarisation can negatively affect all organisations
Let’s start with the current state of affairs in global politics…..
In both the USA and UK we have the population generally divided on pretty much singular issues.
In the USA it is Donald Trump
In the UK it is Brexit
The point I want to elaborate on is that everyone appears to make a decision, on which once made, they totally disregard any opinion valid or not, from the opposing side. Exactly like the football analogy above. Are you Team Howay or Team Ha’way?
This behaviour in football terms is normally limited to banter and usually stays confined to the finite game of recent football results. The real concern is when we apply the same strategy to global politics or organisations it causes chaos, uncertainty and overall decline.
Just look at UK Brexit Plans at the moment – Utter chaos that is destroying both the identity and credibility of the political parties.
In addition, obsession with one primary issue clouds the wider often more important agenda of education, health, social care…… Historically where we made our voting decisions and were generally clear what each party stood for, we are now increasingly confused.
It’s the same story in many organisations. Often cliques develop where beliefs and agendas to win internally today come before working together to make it better for all tomorrow.
At its very worst it becomes like this. ….
A couple of times when I recently have taken over teams at the first meeting I have used a technique where I say something like…..
‘Good morning. I am just going to get myself a coffee. Please can you get yourself into your cliques for when I get back.’
When I return people generally protest that there are no cliques but the simple statement gets all to think about their own position. Whether they admit it or not the point has been raised. We normally agree that one of our guiding principles will be openness going forward and we plant a cultural totem for the team.
- What cliques do you belong to at work and what is the impact on the wider organisation?
- Have you made one thing the overriding issue at the expense of the bigger longer term objectives?
- How receptive are you to considering new ideas? There is growing momentum that the ability to change your mind is a sign of high intelligence.
- How often do you dismiss ideas from people you struggle with and accept ideas from people you like?
- is your default style to focus on proving a point rather than seeking common ground?
Final Thought! Like Howay and Ha’way people generally want the same….. To feel safe, prosper and grow. When we get caught up in taking sides over specific beliefs and dismissing others, division and polarisation will prevail and chaos and uncertainty will follow.
So don’t be a Prick, break down the Clique!
Really simple but effective tool this. It’s aim is to resolve conflict by focussing on what you have in common instead of focussing how you are at odds.
Here is a simple personal example. Your partner and you have a weeks holiday next month. You really fancy some high jinx skiing and your partner wants a drop and flop holiday in the sun.
You are struggling to compromise and start fighting like Tom and Jerry in a life raft…
What is a good idea whenever you are in conflict is to look for the common ground…
In this case you would chunk out from the current impasse to understand you both are actually comfortable spending time together… Whilst this doesn’t necessarily solve the dispute it can help temper it and make both sides calmer and more receptive to solution…
As per the essence of this post, when you are in conflict try to look for common ground and don’t let a weeks holiday location dictate a lifetime’s happiness
And yes your intuition is right I ended up with a week in the sun!
