“In the heat of the moment,” I started, “you may not have had the words or the stomach for it, so you adjourned the meeting. But, this team will have to gather again. When?”
“Wednesday,” Ron replied. “We meet every Wednesday.”
“And, the team had an entire week to ruminate about the conflict last Wednesday. What do you think their mental state will be when you reconvene the group?”
“Well, I hope things will have settled down between the two managers, we can let bygones be bygones and get on with the agenda,” Ron said.
“Does your team have that short of a memory?” I asked.
Ron was quiet. “No, they will all be thinking about the altercation last week.”
“An altercation which has not been discussed since, at least that is what you hope.” My turn to pause. “But, you can bet there has been plenty of discussion outside of that conference room. They are not unspoken words, they are just unspoken in public, with the group. What are you pretending not to know?”
“I don’t know how the team will respond if we bring it back up. We might get a repeat performance and be right back where we were last week,” Ron grimaced.
“And, how will people’s stomachs be feeling if you bring it back up?” I asked.
“My stomach is in a knot right now, just thinking about it.”
“Then, you know you are dealing with a real issue.”