Uptown Consulting’s inspiration for the day!  

6 Steps for Creating A Game Changer

At one time or another, all great leaders experience something so big and so impactful it literally…

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10 Tips to Tap the Power of Talent

If you listen to top executives in any industry discuss how to build their business you will…

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Uptown Consulting at Last Bobcats Game

What a big week at Uptown, teams from Hartford and Atlanta decided to join the fastest growing…

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As a leader, there are many times people feel like the mediator between opposing viewpoints. They’re steering towards a common, shared vision, but there are a myriad of opinions in how they accomplish the vision.

Don’t be afraid of conflict on a team. In fact, it can be healthy for the team if handled correctly. It keeps tension from building unnecessarily, simply because emotions and opinions were hidden rather than addressed. It brings new ideas to the table and welcomes input from everyone. When conflict is ignored or stifled, it makes people feel devalued and controlled.

Here are 7 thoughts for managing conflict on a team:

Interfere sparingly – Try not to take sides in conflict anymore than you have to, even when you have your own opinion. If the conflict isn’t a vision issue, and it seems to be resolving on it’s own; it is best if you allow the process to take it’s course. When the leader gets involved in conflict it takes on a new life; often unnecessarily.

Listen carefully – Try to hear both sides of the conflict. Normally there are valid points on both sides. It’s important that you hear not only what is said, but also what is unspoken. That takes asking questions, getting to know the members of the team, and not assuming you know what people are thinking simply by what they say. Understanding the basis of conflict and the opposing viewpoints is critical to understanding the conflict.

Communicate – During times of conflict, it’s even more important that communication be clear and consistent. Many times, conflict is simply due to a lack of clarity or miscommunication. Information often makes conflict easier to resolve. As leader, part of the responsibility is making sure the team communicates effectively.

Discern the real issue – Conflict develops for a number of reasons; not all of them good. Beyond miscommunication, conflict also develops over power struggles, weak leadership, or simply personality differences. Discerning the nature of the conflict and if there is a root issue (often unspoken or undefined) helps to avoid trying to solve the perceived conflict, when the real issue is something completely different.

Monitor impact – Conflict in and of itself is not bad, but part of the job is making sure conflict on a team doesn’t begin to harm, rather than promote, health of the team and it’s members. When individuals begin to attack each other personally, act in anger, form sides within the team, or distract from progress, it’s time for the leader to interfere.

Vision – Ultimately, the job as a leader is to maintain the integrity of the vision. Conflict can enhance or interfere with attaining the vision. A leaders job is to continually direct the team’s attention back to their purpose.

Don’t be afraid of conflict on a team. Good leaders learn to manage it for the overall good of the team.

      At Uptown Consulting we are a team environment and we always love to spice things up with a little competition from time to time. Shaun, Uptown Consulting’s President, decided to run a week long competition for the Account Manager that acquired the most new accounts while also contributing to organizational growth. Traci Carroll won the competition by a landslide! Traci got to join the rest of the management team at Tuesdays Charlotte Bobcats vs. Boston Celtics game. This was the first competition that Traci has won and we have a feeling that it will be the first of many! 

The team at Uptown spent the second weekend in November in Atlanta for a conference at the Hilton Convention Center.  We had the opportunity to network with other top performing offices in the Southeast.  The focus of the conference was to recognize top performers in the region, to further develop the office and management team for the remainder of 2012 and to set goals for the upcoming year.

Uptown Consulting had a big impact on this conference with a few key people being recognized.  Kara Kinard was called up on stage and recognized for her leadership abilities over the past few months.  Our office manager, Sheena, was selected to speak at the conference on her time management abilities and her vision for the upcoming year.  Our president, Shaun, spoke about leadership and how to gain a competitive advantage in our business.

Our team at Uptown Consulting is thrilled to be a part of one of the fastest growing organizations in the country and we are looking forward to future expansions in 2013.

This past weekend some of the Management team at Uptown got to enjoy a long weekend at Eden Roc in Miami. The weekend consisted of a few fun themed dinner, fund raising for charities and a lot of relaxing in the sun! Friday everybody had to take care of a little business with meetings in the morning, but after lunch was a pool party for everybody to relax and listen to some tunes. Saturday was the Operation Smile dodge ball and cornhole tournament followed by sea-doo’s in the beautiful golf! Overall the weekend was a fun experience with a lot a networking.      

On Sunday September 16^th Uptown Consulting held their fourth annual Field Day to raise money for Operation Smile and network the teams of our growing offices throughout the southeast. The first annual had a whopping three offices and just three years later we had people from seven different offices! What a great time to come together on such an important cause while building great business relationships and partnerships.

       The event was at Windjammer Beach Park in Fort Mill, SC. We had a private pavilion, beach and parking lot and almost the entire park to ourselves. We enjoyed the event with a corn-hole tournament (Won by the Uptown Team), bocce ball, football and of course what would an event like this be without burgers and dogs! Between the tournament and the donations from food we were able to kickoff the fundraising for operation smile with $250. Uptown has pledged to raise $5,000 for operation smile this year alone!  

Check out our Facebook page for Photo’s!

Uptown’s management team spent the weekend in Atlanta along with a few top representatives for a National Conference.  The conference was held at the beautiful Hyatt Downtown, and was invite only for some of the best of the best in the business. Plenty of awards were given out to top performing mangers, representatives and administrators across the County. Uptown’s Administrator Sheena was recognized for being in the top 10% in the country with a Tiffany necklace. She wasn’t the only one to take away an award Erin Roberts was also recognized for her performance in sales, mentoring and leadership with a pin of excellence.

As if all the awards weren’t enough to motivate everybody they scheduled Anthony Robles as the keynote speaker for the conference. Robles is the wrestler who won the 2010-11 NCAA individual wrestling championship despite being born with one leg.  He spoke about his trial and tribulations of being born with one leg, learning how to wrestle and even getting into College despite winning two state championships in High School. His “Unstoppable” motto and mentality to pursue his dream not only won him a NCAA championship ring but the 2011 Jimmy V Award. Anthony tells his entire story in his forthcoming book Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated: How I Became a Champion to be published in late September.

Needless to say this was one of the best conferences yet and we can’t wait to see who will join us at the next one!