A former vice president of Amazon based in the US's Greater Seattle Area has recently revealed how two top engineers, who were "passionate" about their work, got into a shouting match that he had to intervene and resolve.
Ethan Evans, who has worked with the tech giant for 15 years, said that although conflict could be a sign of a toxic workplace, it could also be a sign of passion and motivation, depending upon how management deals with it.
"At Amazon, two of my top engineers had a shouting match that ended in tears," Evans shared on X, adding that both of them were part of the same team. "They were both passionate and dedicated to the project, but their visions were different. This type of passion is a great driver for a healthy team, but if the conflict were to escalate, it could quickly become toxic and counterproductive."
Evans said that to de-escalate the shouting, he brought them into a private mediation. "This is where one of the engineers started to cry because he was so passionate about his vision for the project," he said.
Highlighting the importance of managing conflict in a healthy and productive way, he said that he gave the software engineers space to explain their vision, and mediated their discussion so that they could arrive at a productive conclusion while ensuring that they don't feel unheard or misunderstood.
"Ultimately, we were able to arrive at a productive path forward with both engineers feeling heard and respected. They both continued to be top performers," Evans said.
In a separate post, the retired Amazon senior executive credited his professional success to his willingness and comfort in resolving conflict. He also shared a piece of advice for professionals on how to deal with such situations.
"If someone disagrees with you, they 'oppose' you. But if they treat you with respect and conduct a civil discourse, do not treat them like an 'enemy'," Evans said. "Disagreements are more easily resolved when we treat those who oppose us as people to be persuaded, not as enemies to be vilified."
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