What's Your Dispute Process?

As a wedding professional, you know better than I do that wedding planning comes with conflicts in all sizes. It’s inevitable. Issues with brides, mothers of brides, grooms, and other vendors will crop up. These moments are awkward and anxiety-ridden for you and your clients. Most vendors I talked with (and maybe this is you, too) take a hands-off approach, giving in to client demands or adjusting fees when they know they really shouldn’t. But there’s a better way.

Since every business that involves people will have conflict, every business owner should have a clearly defined dispute resolution process. You know, a way to handle tough stuff. As a corporate mediator, I was shocked to learn that up to 67% of business owners would rather do nothing than address an issue with clients or staff. There’s a lot of fear around being proactive, I know. But you’ll feel so much more secure when you get your process in place.

It doesn’t have to be fancy or designed by a lawyer either. Your process can be a simple written statement about how you want to manage issues. (drafting DR policies and being your company mediator is something I can help with) Consider your DR process as a way for you to give great customer service. In fact, a good DR process is like a prenuptial agreement.

A prenup declares in advance who gets what in the event of a divorce. I know some people find that totally unromantic and kinda depressing, but I take a different view (of course). When you don’t have to fight about the car, the house and the other life issues, you can fully concentrate on what went wrong and how to fix the marriage without worrying you’ll lose something. Same principle applies to having DR process. When you know how it works, and why it’s good for you, you’ll be less resistant to conflict (which is really just two people holding different opinions), less defensive. You’ll be able to focus on finding a solution that works for you and your client.

We’re definitely going to talk more about what could be part of your DR process, including adding a mediation clause to your contracts; dealing with employee concerns and working with a mediator in future posts. For now, it would be great if you would think about these questions:

What am I doing now to manage conflict constructively?

How do I feel about it?

Does it work for me?

What, if anything, would I like to change?

Do I feel conflict-competent?

Of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts about resolving disputes and how best to do it. Leave a comment, will ya?