2008 (Fall) Roundtables: Creative Conflict
With Great Bay's ever expanding Network, we hosted the "Creative Conflict" roundtable twice: one in Massachusettss and one in Maine to accommodate all grantees who wanted to attend.
The topic was inspired by a recent NPR review of a fascinating book, Team of Rivals. The book, written by the Pulitzer Prize winning historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, is about President Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet. It was one of the most contentious teams in the history of presidential cabinets. Lincoln deliberately selected powerful, outspoken adversaries to generate conflict from which he developed some of his most brilliant strategies. We realized that grantees have experienced conflict in a variety of situations – with boards, team leaders, staff, volunteers etc., and we asked guests to share insights on ways in which they have dealt with the challenges. In each case, situations fraught with conflict were turned into positive moves that took organizations to a higher level of operation/efficiency/impact.
The Massachusetts' luncheon on October 1st was a combined Roundtable/Site Visit hosted by Jim Middleton at his organization Employ+Ability (http://www.workisgood.org) in Braintree.
The Maine luncheon was held on November 4th at the Cumberland Club in Portland.The discussion, about a variety challenges overcome, was - as always - open, honest, lively, and informative.
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