Conflict is present in every sports organization and relationship. It is an unavoidable part of life. People and organizations either know how to address conflict effectively or are victims to it.
Sports conflicts can be unnoticeably small or they can be massive and out of control. All conflict has a positive or negative impact on team culture, enjoyment, and performance potential.
Though many people are afraid of it or avoid it, well-managed conflict is essential to all relationships and organizational success. This is especially true in the world of sports where the stakes are often very high. It can open lines of communication, reinforce and improve culture, generate better ideas, and enhance accountability and coachability. Conflict is actually a key component of all success and enjoyment in sports, but only if it is managed correctly.
Mismanaged conflict limits and damages everything. The cost of negative conflict can be to motivation, performance, enjoyment, income, careers, organizational survival, and more. Sadly, allowing conflict to damage is more common because most people have not been taught the skillset to effectively manage conflict. A simple skillset in conflict management concepts and tools can change everything.
You can master all other aspects of athletics preparation, spending thousands of hours and dollars in physical and mental preparation, to have every bit of it wasted by one single mismanaged conflict. Mismanaged conflict trumps every mental, physical, financial, and organizational investment. Despite this, conflict is greatly misunderstood and ignored in the world of sports. Until now there haven’t been many resources available for successfully managing conflict in sports.
In Managing Sports Conflict: Five Tools to Master Conflict, Bill Taylor of Sports Conflict Lab opens the world of conflict management to sports administrators, staff, coaches, parents, and athletes. He brings a background of 22 years of championship-level intercollegiate coaching combined with extensive formal education in conflict management to transform the world of athletics with a set of simple tools to confidently and consistently plan for and manage conflict. Bill explains the value and danger of conflict, the unique aspects of conflict in sports, and the critical impact of conflict on culture, then details the five most important tools for managing conflict.
By learning the concepts and tools in the book, anyone involved in sports can prepare for conflict, face conflict with confidence, and effectively manage conflict to the benefit of their team or organization. Mastering sports conflict management is a super power that can save teams and relationships and take programs, performance, and enjoyment in sports to the highest levels.
