Don’t Sit Across From Each Other

 

Don’t sit directly across from one another, especially if you are two people or pairs who are in conflict with each other.

When you sit across from one another and there is an “issue” that you disagree on you are essentially tossing your views back and forth AT one another, while literally physically sitting with the issue between the two of you.

Instead, if you are angled toward one another, as in one person at the end of the table and the other on the side of the table, the dynamics tend to shift with the “geography”.

This is a concept Coaches are taught in Organization & Relationship Systems Coach training and it’s  a simple yet powerful tip.

Perhaps even more powerful when you are a pair or team of people in conflict, is to have both of you or the full team looking towards the same place:
✅ One white board
✅ One flip chart
✅ One shared report

Then your physicality will embody “alignment”, even as you are sorting out your differing perspectives.

I’m interested in hearing your experiences. Try out this simply shift next time you are heading into a difficult conversation.  It may be a stretch to anticipate high fiving each other at the end of the discussion, but I expect the tone will be less adversarial.