Certainly, divisiveness is a hot topic right now. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard several conference speakers talking about it, it was discussed at a recent meeting of a volunteer committee I serve on, and we hear lots of examples of it in the news and on social media. It appears to me, though, at least based on my interactions in these last few weeks, that the conversations are promoting it; that is, encouraging us to look for it even more, as opposed to resolving it.

Condoleezza Rice talked about it at a recent event I attended. She suggested that we have simple face to face conversations with people who feel differently than we do. Instead of avoiding the conversation and/or talking more about the divisiveness of the topic we disagree on, her advice was to explore it, dig into it, and see if we might resolve it. That is, it might be a miscommunication, a misunderstanding of the facts, or a, “Hey, at least I now understand where you are coming from.”

These conversations, of course, are helpful for other reasons as well: to encourage inclusion, workplace civility, feedforward information, positive conversations, and a more JoyPowered^® culture! My challenge to you is to look for your next opportunity to resolve divisiveness versus seeking it out.