doing the unexpected: washing + drying a pair of wool blend hiking socks HOPING they will shrink because they're a liiiiitle too big

Story of The Ice Wolf

PART 6

OTHER PARTS: 

PART 1

WARNINGS: mentions of torture (inficted on reader), wounds, blood, amputation, panic attack and PTSD.

Hey fellas! I’m sorry I told you I’d post last week but I’ve been bussy, my apologies. 

"Angel! stop fucking them, we have a mission".

She groans in annoyance "Fine" pressing another button the shackles are open.

"Soldats! Gear up" he shouts, voice full of anger. Methodically like robots, both of you get up and walk out of the room following orders.

They wip you both before heading to the mission. 

--- [Avengers Tower after Fury’s call] --- Wanda moved to the kitchen with the excuse of needing a glass of water. Red energy waves dance around her hands. Two years they could keep behind close walls the demise of Y/N and Bucky, the official statement is that they were on undercover mission. Now Hydra let the truth out. Still trying to calm down she returns to the dining area. Loki blocks her path, when she tries to side step him, he stops her with his forearm across her shoulders. "Loki don't" Thor tries to interfere his deep voice has a trace of warning. Wanda ignores the blond Asgardian to warn the dark haired man "Two years I've felt you dwelling about something, your thoughts involve Y/N and Bucky, so unless you are going to tell me what it is, move aside or I'll make you". They stay facing away from each other several seconds. Then he gently grabs Wanda’s shoulders, slowly he spins her around to look her in the eyes. "Take a sit, I will tell you. This might help you and Natasha as a closure". "Several months before that mission Y/N and Bucky asked something from Thor and I. In Asgard we have a special stone that is made from the blood and soul of a person, this gem is then given to a loved one". He raises his closed right fist. "Y/N was having it as a gift for your birthday Wanda". Slowly he opens his fist revealing a beautiful crafted ring box. "She asked me to keep it, knowing that if she had it close you'll end up finding out. I was not sure of what to do with it. But this ring carries a little part of her soul". With his last words the upper lid opens. Revealing a dark meteorite ring with an encrusted deep red gemstone shaped as an oval.  "Natasha, Bucky made one too, he was unsure about how to give it to you, however he was pondering of give it to you as an anniversary gift". He opens his left fist the box is simple minimalist like with expert craftmanship the box looks seamless, the lid opens, the ring resting inside is made of dark Damascus steel, it has a fine rose gold stripe running through the middle, in the top there's an ice blue gemstone in diamond shape. "we were dating idiots". [Press Conference] The avengers sitting in the press conference podium are Tony, Steve, Wanda, and Coulson. The rest is scattered around looking for any sign of trouble. Natasha chose not to be at the podium her relationship with Bucky was unknown to the press. After Rhode's introduction, Stark takes the microphone. "Today we are here to confirm the rumors. With a heavy heart we inform you that the Avengers Y/N and James died two years ago". The shouting raises reporters throwing questions all over, Tony stays motionless, after the initial outburst they calm down. "Mr. Stark given the circumstances we think that Miss Maximoff, Captain Rogers and Agent Coulson should be the ones talking, last time you gave us a statement regarding them they were actually dead". Tony grinds his jaw a couple of times, but nods towards the others. "Captain Rogers seems like your team of ‘heroes’ is a mercenary club, why did you let someone like the Ice Wolf get in your ranks?”  "Y/N wasn't the Ice Wolf when she became an Avenger she worked undercover for S.H.I.E.L.D several years before joining us. Her goal was climb Hydra ranks to rip them from the inside. She and Bucky were key in several missions due to their knowledge in Hydra operations. That's the reason of their recruiting, besides they were good persons caring and loving. Since day one their priority has been saving lives". "Captain Rogers, the new Hydra unit seems promising, will they replace your fallen ex-Hydra soldiers? Will they get immunity too?". Steve grinds his jaw, "we are not looking for replacements, Y/N and Bucky were our comrades, friends there's no way to replace them. We will deal with the Hydra unit, they will be taken to justice". "Miss Maximoff did you knew the monster you were dating?". Natasha interferes, "don't be insensible assholes, Y/N was a person, not a monster".  "Former assassin and spy trained by the red room, are you human too?"

Nat only grinds her jaw and glares at the reporter making him shrink on his place.

"Answer the question Witch" other reporter shouts. Wanda schools her features "Y/N wasn't a monster, she did what it took to survive, always with the goal of tearing apart Hydra. I had the privilege to know her in a way that you all never will". Rhodes Interferes, guys before we go on. "Be respectful with your questions, otherwise we will shut down this conference". "Captain Rogers, agent Coulson there's a leaked footage that shows Y/N, Bucky and the twins disagreement in executing the mission while Mr. Stark calls for a vote and labels Y/N as a coward. Was that mission taken that lightly? Coulson is the one who answers "No mission is taken lightly, what you didn't see is the hours we spent beforehand discussing possibilities, Stark called a vote as a way to break the tension, the execution of the mission was set to happen before the vote". "Mr. Stark how does it feel to know that your ego played on their deaths?". Before Tony can answer, a chilling hollering interrupts the conference. The heavy wood double doors are kicked off from their hinges, the panels landing several feet down the aisle. The two dark soldiers stand there, then the Tiger walks in. His voice is deep and has a heavy Russian accent. "Answer the question Stark". Everyone just stare at the three figures walking down the aisle. The wolves howl again. Tony doesn't answer. "Well, if you aren't answering that question, I have better one, do you still hear them scream? Those agony screams were something not to be forgotten". Tony answers while summoning his armor "Every single night". "I'll give you one more thing to remember then, the call is yours again". There are two playgrounds today. One here, other in the main park. I either give you chance for everyone in this room to run away before the soldats start shooting or the chance for half of your team to reach the park before my freaks start to play". A reporter stand to shout "Stupid Hydra puppet you can't play with our lives like...” *Bang* the reporter falls to the ground clutching his mid riff. "Next one who interrupts me dies". ("Tony there has to be another way, let's attack together"). ("they have blocked the only way out, the park is full of children"). "Are you done planning? my patience does not last long". ("Wanda, Pietro, Vision, Thor, head to the park. The rest with me"). Whispering *F.R.I.D.A.Y alert Fury*. "what's your call Stark? The ones that were chewing you up or the children in the park?"  The only tell of Tony’s uneasiness is the grind of his jaw, still he calmly says, "The children". "Soldats guns up", both obey raising twin pistols, the Tiger presses the com resting ln his right ear, you have 30 seconds to get there, starting... Now. The chosen Avengers race out of the building. When another reporter tries to run past the soldiers, the one with the skull mask grabs him by the throat, lifting him off the floor, the reporter tries to scape in vain, screams drowned under the pressure on his throat. "I didn't say you could move, did I? Throw him out". Barely moving its arm, the soldier throws him out through the void of the door, above the handrail to a ten-floor crash. The people below start panicking a shouting. After some tense seconds. The clash of the battle starts in the distance. "Because I ‘am a good person I will give this people a fair head start… Run". All the reporters scatter out of the room, some of them colliding against the soldiers that stand unfazed. "Kill them". The soldiers start firing against the reporters. "King T'achalla you against me, soldats have fun with the rest". The fight begins with Dark Tiger leaping to crash against T'achalla, after securing Pepper out of the building Tony joins too. Rhodey and Barton help the fallen people and take them to safety. Natasha, Steve and Banner start fighting the Soldiers their moves are fast and precise but those two have no problem blocking and dodging their blows. The fight intensifies Natasha and Steve manage to sweep their legs off the floor and the hulk tackles them sending them against the glass wall, the force breaks the glass curtain wall, the fall is ten floors to the street pavement, two loud thuds are heard, the Hulk jumps after them. The tiger dodges two energy blasts doing backflips, he lands in the edge of the broken window. His two soldats are lying in the middle of the holes made by their fall. When Hulk gets close to grab them, the two wolves appear jumping on him biting his forearms. He screams in anger and shakes off the wolves, still they jump on him again. The Tiger leaps off landing behind the soldiers heads "soldats stop playing dead". "You have to be kidding me" Natasha says while she runs close with Steve. Slowly the two bodies get off the ground, and turn their head towards their handler, while wolves come back flanking them. *Mr. Stark we have company military units are arriving* the A.I informs. A Military helicopter floats above their heads.  "Drop you weapons and surrender" Steve says walking to stand before them. [You have five seconds to surrender or we will open fire] a voice from the helicopter shouts. Tony and T'achalla land beside Natasha. "You'll need more that bullets to stop us, let's see if you can keep up” he nods towards the soldiers “Go". The military open fire, the soldats shield their handler while he runs ahead. Their armor takes the worst of the bullets damage, but still some of them pierce their skin. The one with the wolf mask throws a small grenade at the helicopter, before it blows off both and the wolves take off.

The path to the main park was full of astonishing stunts from both sides, gun shots, fighting. None of them was getting out scratch less. They reached the park raising more chaos, police officers where already trying to stop the enhanced opening fire against them, but the Dark Mist and the Dark Angel proved to be a deadly synced duo, always keeping each other back covered. In the middle of the brawl an opportunity raised, the two soldiers were distracted fighting Hulk and Steve, dodging arrows from Barton and bullets from Sam, but their suits proved hard to pierce. T'achalla got the upper hand on his fight with the Dark Tiger connecting a couple of good punches that left him dazzled, Wanda took the chance to slam a chunk of concrete debris at him, upon his fall the soldats abandoned their fight to shield him from a combined blast from Tony and Rhodey sending them sliding backwards in a crunched position, the several feet skid left marks in the concrete with their now revealed metal forearms, the blast damaged the metal plates making some of the inner mechanisms show, the flesh limbs now sport nasty burns. T'achalla, Steve and Hulk go ahead to end them, the big guy hits the Cranium Soldier with an blow hard enough to hear ribs breaking, Steve came next using his shield to land an uppercut solid enough to tear off the mask and surely breaking its nose, Thor comes assert a swing to the chest with Mjolnir sending it even further behind. Hulk uses the same combination of blows with the other soldier but stead of Thor, the last blow was made by T'achalla he clawed the Wolf mid riff sweeping  his right hand left to right and clawing it's face with the left, taking off the mask and leaving jagged cuts across the face from the forehead to the jawline, Hulk comes in again swinging a low hook to send the soldier to the same spot where the cranium one is. Both soldats end up lying motionless. Thor leaps up ready to land the final blow with a thunder channeled through Mjolnir, but he stops midair, shock takes over his features, he doesn’t land the last blow. Tony and Rhodey had secured the Dark Tiger. The others blocked the enhanced, Sam has the Dark Angel pinned down in the floor, gun in her head. "Thor?" Steve asks a few paces behind him. "This must to be a wicked dream" he says as he lands a few feet behind the bodies. Pietro was the first to get close skidding to a halt, his eyes widening is surprise too "Holly shit! Sis, Nat is Y/N and Bucky!". The women were astonished a couple of seconds before they ran to them dropping to their knees. Wanda’s vision was blurred by tears, she moves away the hair that was stuck to your forehead with blood, softly kissing the side that isn’t jagged. Pietro walks close to crunch beside her she puts his hand on her shoulder "Hurry up, break the conditioning before they wake up again". Wanda tries, surrounding both of your heads with her red energy "I… I can't break through, something is blocking me completely". Steve and Nat are kneeled by Bucky’s side, both of you have a spider like devices in the right side of the head, one of the branches runs down the neck disappearing under the skin. "It must be this" Steve says as he points at the devices. He was about to tear it off when the wolves show up standing above your heads, fangs displayed and growling. "Unless you want to kill them for good this time, I wouldn’t try to tear the dispositive off" the Tiger says, Tony and Rhodey had dragged him with them. "Shut up" T'achalla sneers and walks up to them, "time to know your face". He takes the mask away "Salarov". He gives them a sinister smile "Surprise, surprise. Did you really thought that we would waste our best assets? You gave us the perfect chance to take them back. That dispositive won't let you pry their mind darling, if you take it off you kill them". Tony lifts the mask of his suit to glare at Salarov "We will find a way to take it off ". Salarov only smirks at Tony’s glare, then he sets is sight to the twins "I have a better offer for you Silver and Witch come with us I'll let her have her memories of both of you".  The twins turn around to glare at him "You won't free her mind, it would be and empty vessel" Wanda says as her eyes glow red. "Empty vessels that know how to rock your world Witch". The Death Angel quips with a slay smirk. "How dare you!" Wanda screams her eyes glowing brighter red full of hatred, Nat raises her gun towards the girl. "Come with us, and you can have her back" Salarov simply says. "What makes you think you are going out of this?". Tony asked. He lets out a taunting laugh "Empty vessels, the best weapons". The wolves stop growling to whimper and lick the soldiers faces. "Time's up Scarlett, Silver, are you coming or not?". (I can hear her voice, I can feel her close. But my body doesn't move at my will. little one get away from me!) ("Wanda he is playing with us, they will do the same to us. We will find a way to have them back”). ("He is not lying, he has a plan"). "Tony he is not lying, he will scape!". Salarov glares darkly at the twins "if that is your answer, soldats raise". (No! Stupid body stay down, God I feel like a smashed can, but my body still moves). Steve and Pietro barely got Wanda and Natasha out of the way, before wolves attacked them. You and Bucky slowly get up, blood staining the concrete as it drips from your wounds (Come on guys, don't hesitate to put us down before we kill you).  The avengers ready their weapons, but no one is willing to take you down. “Bucky! Y/N! Don't do this, fight it! Natasha screams, her guns ready but pointing to the ground. (Fucking shit). There is no trace of recognition in your eyes, dull blank unmovable stare, the only thing signaling that you both are alive is the trembling rise and fall of your chest, the wolves charge towards Wanda sensing her trying to get into your mind again, before they jump on her Wanda raises her hands to repel them, ("Orion, Nebula stop!") the red stone of her ring glows faintly and the wolves skid to a halt, they start pacing side to side growling, unsure of what to do. Several whistle shots cut the tense atmosphere, instead of bullets small spiders pierce the avengers skin and battle suits, shocking them to the ground, the Black Mist holds back the hulk and Thor with her telekinesis. The Hydra sniper reinforcements open a way out for the Tiger’s unit. The Death Angel stands up as the rest of you rush to her, she shields you all with her wings. "Don't worry Witch, I'll lick her wounds for you" smirking and winking she vanishes to thin air. The hold breaks, and the spiders stop working. After some pained grunts, they slowly raise. "Was that even real?" Clint muses out loud. Wanda and Nat are still sitting on the floor staring at their blood-stained hands. "What if they are clones or something else? Sam said. "They were real, the wolves halted due to Wanda’s ring glowing, perhaps deep inside there was some recognition" Thor states. --- --- [Back in the Avengers Tower] All the avengers were scattered around the living room, sporting several gashes and bruises. "I can't believe they were just playing around and they left us fucked up". Sam says as he tries to roll his shoulder. "Wanda” Bruce is sitting by the bar fidgeting with his glasses “was Y/N always that resilient and strong? I hate to say this, but those blows should have killed them, I'm sure I felt their bones breaking". Banner says while clenching and unclenching his fists, the sensation still lingers on his hands. "They did something else to her, to both. Their mind is not the same, it's like they are empty and cold, their mind space is a blank canvas". "Hydra experimented further with them" Steve states anger clear in his voice. "What do you mean? They were already super soldiers and deadly skillful assassins" T'achalla says from his spot in the sofa. Tony is sitting on the floor by the glass wall a scotch glass in one hand, the other concealing his mouth. "The last time I shot Bucky with a short distance blast I ripped off his bionic arm. This time the blast hit metal and flesh and they got out with nasty burns, but nothing mayor just burns” Silence fills the space, Wanda is silently being wrapped in Pietro's arms. Natasha is leaning against Clint staring to the unknown. The door opens, May strolls in, crossing her arms in a disapproving way. "Avengers, are you done weeping?. "This doesn't concern you Melinda" Tony says. "That's where you are wrong Stark, Y/N was on my jurisdiction before she got into this team. Overall, she is my friend, Barnes too. You all are too caught up in your personal pity parties. They are alive, and they are being used. Let’s find a way to bring them back". ---

[Hydra Base Canada]

After banishing to thin air, the Tiger and his unit were taken to a Hydra base in Canada, the facility has a laboratory were you and Bucky were brought to patch up the wounds.

“Captain you seriously need to call them back from being your flesh shields, is matter of when, their bodies are sustaining too much damage, the weaker their body becomes you have the risk of their bodies rejecting the serum”.

“I don’t care, just patch them up and have them ready to comply. Not everyday you have two of the best assassins in the history as your play toys”.

The scientists strap both of you to metal tables to patch up the wounds. They inject different serums as they start repairing the prosthetic limbs.

After a half day of work the scientists leave the room, leaving you both lying on the metal tables out cold, the Angel who has been watching them work takes the chance to grab a copy of both of your files with her teletransportation and leaves the room. Later she conceals her face with large hoodie and withdraw her wings. She shows at Hill’s office in the avenger’s compound.

Maria is startled by the sudden materialization of a hooded person in her office, her instincts kick in and grabs her gun aiming it at the stranger. The person pulls back a little the hood, to reveal briefly her face, she simply shows up the files being held on her right hand, leaving them atop of the desk. Just like she appeared, she vanishes.

----

The avengers and Coulson’s team are gathered in the compound conference room, the new face added to the mixture is Peter Parker. Fury and Hill walk in, he wastes no time in greetings with his hands clasped in his back he starts the briefing "We have new intel that can...Stark what is the kid doing here?" he enquires looking sternly at the mentioned man. Peter just looks sheepishly at his hands. While Tony answers "He is our best chance to catch Y/N and Bucky without hurting them badly, if they attack the assembly we'll need all the help we can get". Fury just stares blankly at him "Still, you want a kid to fight against two cold blood assassins?” no one reacts to the statement, his words carry no ill intention “they aren't Y/N and Bucky they are the Winter Soldier and the Ice Wolf, Hydra made sure of that, they are assets" he says as he brings his hands to hang by his sides. "How do you know that Fury?" Banner asks as he eyes the files on the colonel hands. Fury walks up to Banner and set the files before him, silently walking away a few steps. Tony who is sitting beside Bruce takes one of the files, they scan quickly the notes. The notes are a mix of Russian and English, Tony scrunches his nose a little in annoyance "We need a Russian translator" he keeps eying the files until he reaches some picture evidence, their eyes widen in surprise, then a frown sets on his features. "I can do it" Nat says while she walks close, before she can see the pictures, Tony closes the file "I don't think you want to see this Nat", she glares at him and tries to snatch the files out of his grasp, but Tony toss them at Jemma to avoid the red head. "H-how did you get this Nick?" Bruce looks at Fury with surprise and a hint of suspiciousness as he fidgets a little with his glasses. Maria gets closer to the gathered people "The angel show up last night in my office, she left those files and vanished. Another thing to note, she can conceal her wings". Pietro and Wanda look in each other eyes "why would she try to help them?" Pietro muses as his mind start to race, he begins to remember something... flashes of a little girl, you asking him to take her to an specific location…"I... I didn't see that coming". "What is it speedster?" Clint asks leaning to his right towards him. "That girl is Anika" at the others lost glances, he sighs a little in exasperation before he elaborates "Y/N got her out of a laboratory, they were experimenting on her, she was a little kid, we tried to hide her". "Tried?" Daisy asks tilting her head a little “I doubt Y/N did something like that and didn’t work”. "It worked in the beginning, seems that they got her back. After a couple of months Y/N cut all ties to her to keep her as far as possible from Hydra’s radar". "Wan did you know?" Clint asks almost like a father trying to make his kids spill a secret. She only shrugs fidgeting a little with her ring, she calmly says "No, she did a lot of things without one or both of us knowing". "How do you know about the girl speedy?" Tony asks "I was the kid's ride away" he shrugs. Fury steps close again "That detail aside. We know they will attack the conference. Jemma, Fitz, Banner and Stark find a way to snap them out of Hydra’s control". They nod in agreement, then he looks at Peter in the eyes "Parker work with them, when the time for the battle comes,      Stay. Away. From. It". He walks to stand beside Maria "Agent Hill will coordinate the plan for the surveillance and counter attack, we can't let Vienna happen again". "And you Nick?" Tony asks crossing his arms. "I'll be doing what I do best, keeping you all in track". ---

[Hydra base, Canada] Bucky and you are seated on metal chairs, shackles on, staring blankly at the two men in front of you. "Salarov, the world convention is the final blow, we are giving you three more enhanced and two units for a direct attack. Other units will back you up under my command, the mission is to wipeout the avengers in their own field, kill anyone that gets in the way". "What about them?" he says motioning to both of you. "We still got some time to use them as attack dogs, when the time comes have them accomplish the mission at any cost, this time use all the serum, we can't risk them going rogue". A month later. [Briefing before the World Conference, New York] The Dark Tiger unit have done some moves, mostly taking out rogue Hydra deserters, however the intel gathered by the S.H.I.EL.D agents suggest that the world conference is a clear target on their list. That’s why all the avengers and Coulson’s team are gathered in the conference room, including king T'achalla and his general Okoye, Peter too, he is sitting in the back. Jemma is the one presenting the plan to get you and Bucky back "Agent Barton we have suited a batch of arrow heads with this serum" she says holding a transparent vial with a light blue-ish liquid inside "aim to the devices attached to their heads, we've made a metal alloy strong enough to pierce the gadgets without risking further damage as long as is not shoot at short distance". Clint nods in understanding "Who's going to open the window for the shots?" "Who do you think Clint?" Nat says crossing her arms. "What?! No, no fucking way, are you crazy Natasha?". "She won't be alone" Wanda says getting close to red head, while Pietro stares at Clint "We know how they fight as assets, just don't miss the shots old man". "Don't worry legolas, I'm backing them too, the more, the funnier the party" he says with a smirk, trying to lighten the somber mood. Clint only grunts in annoyance, grumpy face on "As you wish". Maria steps to the head of the table “Everyone else knows their positions, stay sharp and don't pull off your punches”. [Salarov’s safe house] Bucky and you walk shoulder by shoulder to the living room, the wolves are a step ahead of you, each of you have a duffle bag with automatic weapons and grenades. As both of you step in the voices halt their conversations, the new faces are registered as enemies, both of you unholster the guns strapped to your thighs pointing at the three unknown persons. "What the hell?! Captain control your dogs" the unknown man shouts. Salarov only laughs "Guns down assets" you immediately obey the order. "Set the bags to the floor and kneel down" you do as he orders, but you can also feel an energy pulling you heavy to the ground. He presses the button of the controller four lines are already lighten, the other three gain color too, with each strip the dispositive releases more serum making you both hiss in pain, this time as your eyes blink in pain your eyes torn absolute black leaving no trace of your eye color. "Captain you will kill them" the angel hisses she grinds her jaw. "Say goodbye to your toys Angel, this is their last mission" he is so focused rejoicing as he watches as you both hiss in agony, your body trying to restrain your automatic pain reaction that he misses the Angel's eyes widening. You are still kneeled hissing in pain when he signals the two girls to hand you the masks, both put them on. Then they hand you a set of twin katanas, and military hunting knives to Bucky "It's time to have some fun assets". You both answer a husky emotionless “Hail Hydra”.

A/N:

The next chapter will contain the big clash and the aftermath. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

I hope I can post this same week, so I don’t keep you on edge.

Conflict in the Workplace - A Proactive Approach.

Conflict can be described as something which is inevitable, but at the same time necessary and often required. Conflict offers us the opportunity to see opposing or different views from different perspectives, to bring understanding and awareness into the impact or the agenda of each party, and it offers us the opportunity to progress beyond our own current understanding.

However, often in organisations when conflict occurs, it becomes personalised and a position of war or unhealthy ground, instead of healthy conflict. The reason for it becoming personalized we will delve into next.

Often the content of the conflict has very little to do with an individual and is more about the meaning or association that the individual has with the conflict at the time it occurs. This has the ability to change based on certain events in that person’s life and how they are feeling at that current moment in their work life. It can also be based upon a person’s values, beliefs, internalisations or interpretations of the conflict which is at play.

What can be difficult and often dangerous in conflict within organisations is when it becomes a political positioning. This can result in those involved in the conflict working it out through political means, such as bringing others into the situation to validate themselves and using tactics to undermine the other person’s position by emphasizing their own. I am sure many of you are familiar with this and have had experiences of this happening to you in the past, and potentially even at this current moment may be involved in a conflict like this which you deem to be normal.

Whilst taking a political position or using tactics to ensure that you win may seem fairly helpful to your agenda at that current time, it can actually undermine the innovation, collective creativity and relational dynamics within an organisation. This then has a number of impacts on the individual team and at an organizational level.

Depending on your personality type, your way of getting things done, and your preferences for conflict and communication, you may assume that the way in which you are executing things is the best way for you and the most effective way. However, at an organizational level, having a number of these kinds of conflicts can actually result in psychological safety being disrupted and ultimately creates a culture that undermines vulnerability and communication.

When taking a political play rather than resolving something directly with those you are in conflict with, there can be consequences both on an individual and team level. On a team level you will ultimately be breaking future ties and trust with that team; either the team you’re in or you’re in conflict with. It then becomes a case of potentially something that is held against you as it lives on as conflict and mistrust. On an individual level, the result is internal conflict, avoidance, attacking and a change in behaviour. This can then be damaging in the long term if we continue that particular type of interaction and may end up repeating our history of conflict and conflict resolution and all the further consequences of those.

Conflict itself is healthy and helpful, however, how we choose to engage with conflict and how we process feelings, individual, team-based and at an organizational level, means that no impact goes beyond our group thinking and cultured defaults.

We all carry around a defaulted way of managing conflict in teams, that the groupthink provides a defaulted way to manage conflict. In organisations, the culture navigates and dictates how we manage conflict. Many of us forget that the culture is formed of the clusters of teams within that particular culture, and those consist of individuals, which also forms links between the individual,  the team and the organisation, which is always relational. If we were to sacrifice the relational aspects of getting things completed by using tactics, then we can often lose the overall strategic purpose of working together and in the organisation as a whole.

When an organisation, team, or individual is overly focused on winning, we can negate success. When organisations use a hero mentality and promote individual or team winning, instead of joint or organizational successes, then it becomes clear that people are more motivated towards winning rather than succeeding.

The old saying “You may have won the battle, but you’ve lost the war” comes to my mind for this.

This is so often the case where the operational thinker can get caught attempting to win the battle and in doing so, undermine the war. This also relates to when somebody with unprocessed insecurities or personal agendas can act out and become consumed by winning the battle, and completely ignoring the cost of the win to the overall successes of themselves, their teams and the organisation.

When we are uncomfortable with conflict and are unsure how to process it, we tend to act out. This kind of acting out that I have seen repeatedly present in organisations undermine their progress. Not only has it had the ability to hold back organisations at an organizational level, but it has held back team’s abilities to be innovative and creative and prevents the individuals’ ability to feel safe and feel like they can contribute equally.

Recently I spoke to a specific leadership team and explained to them how we very easily project our needs on to those we perceive as authoritative. But not only do we project our needs, we also project our blame, which I believe from my experience, comes from our development experience, where we began to outgrow relying on our parents and instead become autonomous and interdependent. However, for many people, whilst becoming autonomous and interdependent was inevitable, it doesn’t mean that their utmost needs in the past were met and resolved. This is why we carry these into every interaction, especially with authoritative figures or leadership teams, and fully expect them unconsciously to meet these utmost needs that our parents failed to meet for us.

This means that not every conflict is primarily about the conflict itself and not every win is always just about the win, as the emotions that drive conflicts and wins are often deeper than what may initially be presented on the surface. I don’t expect everybody to be doing a psychological evaluation of themselves or their peers, but what I do hope is that this awareness brings a deeper understanding of the layers that may be present to the conflicts that are occurring in organisations.

If an attempt is made to resolve them at just one level, this then leaves a vulnerability wide open, so therefore it is necessary to just attempt to resolve them on an individual level, which can be completed through performance reviews

It is difficult for humans to compartmentalize effectively, especially when told to only be their professional selves in work and personal selves outside of work. Sometimes this is not possible and ineffective as aspects of personal life will eventually bleed into work life. So, by attempting to resolve the conflict at just one level, this then leaves a vulnerability wide open, for example, through performance reviews. Therefore, by attempting to resolve them on an individual level it makes it potentially more effective in the long run.

At team level, when there is conflict and they are required to come to a conclusion, they are often encouraged to come to an agreement, as opposed to resolving the conflict. By doing this it often requires individuals to shrink and hide their views, for the overall development of the team, however, this ingrains the mentality that it is okay for certain individuals to take control and ignore others, as long as tasks are completed.

At an organizational level, noticing a conflict that keeps reoccurring and attempting to solve it through diagnostic means, ends up ignoring the purpose of the conflict and its wisdom. This is why change methods are often resisted, not because of changes and desires but because the approach that is being taken is aiming to resolve something by being diagnosed by those who are uninvolved. This allows individuals involved to be overlooked in the very way the very aspect they need to be involved in.

I compare this to being in a café and wanting to have a glass of water, but the café diagnosing that you need a 7UP, so they give you this instead. This is what it is like to take a diagnostic approach around the conflict that has a similar purpose, and usually addressing an unconscious need for the organisation. It will be resisted, but may actually look similar, and the person drinking it is aware it is different, but the server may argue that they are in fact both drinks so there is little difference, but in reality, it is clear that the experience of drinking 7UP versus water is vastly different.

To take my water versus 7UP analogy a step further, the presumption that people are looking to have a drink is part of the issue. What if the need for water was for another purpose and not to quench thirst; would 7UP still fulfil that need as well? This is where diagnostic approaches for organizational conflict fall short, as the needs aren’t being necessarily assessed accurately at the needs level.

In order to manage, support or resolve conflict, we need to first start by understanding the need that the conflict serves ad how the conflict supports us right now. You may be surprised what you find because often when people say “I don’t like conflict” they often use conflict to feel secure, safe, or simply out of habit because of their previous experiences. In an organisation, you may feel as though the power dynamics aren’t equally shared, so in this way, the conflict would be a way to win and lose.

You may find conflict represents some of the personal places or team dynamics that are occurring or presenting themselves within the organisation and may not actually be something which is resolvable within the organisation.

This is why I lean heavily on relational dynamics and also why I believe that emotional intelligence and relational intelligence is required, to be able to support an organization, leading to its success.

At individual and organizational levels, it is the ability to understand ourselves, how we relate to others and the impact that we have on others that helps to leverage opportunity and engage in conflict as a tool for winning the war instead of scoring points on the battlefield.

We need to remember that in conflict it is often a battle of the minds and hearts of the people involved. We need to understand this to be able to influence it.

Often, we are able to influence people with the approaches that we prefer to be influenced by ourselves, however, if we are in conflict, those individuals may require a different style of influencing or shared meaning. It isn’t about limiting conflict or restricting it, it is about ensuring that it serves the greatest purpose of the organisation; the people in it and the team’s efficiency.

If you would like help managing conflict in your team or organisation you can contact [email protected]