Tip of the week: Communicate to avoid conflict

In hospitals, it is common for conflict to arise because of misunderstanding different viewpoints, goals, language of people in the organization with disparate education, personal background, and divergent business or professional experience. People with business management backgrounds are thrown together with people with clinical backgrounds in situations where cooperation is a must.

For physician leaders to encourage cooperation, it is important to view potential sources of conflict as opportunities to improve understanding. This can be as simple as rewording requests from management in a way that is understandable and not offensive to the medical staff.