Fleetwood Mac are one of the worlds longest standing and best selling bands of all time, but behind the scenes, there was a substantial amount of conflict, giving a fantastic example of how conflict can be effectively managed yet production of work and standards remain high.
The song Go Your Own Way, was written about the breakdown in relationship between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and in fact the whole Rumours album was apartied to the imploding relationships throughout the whole band. If you look at the footage of that era, you can see the distain and strain upon the various relationships, yet they performed on stage and recorded together as a collective. This is often referred to as having a case of the “Mac” and situations like this are not unusual within our workplaces.
So how was this managed so well? Conflict management is incredibly complex and a subject that line managers spend a lot of time on, at the end of the day, we don’t have to get along with everyone that we work with, but we do have to be professional and abide by the policies and procedures outlined by the company.
Natalie Ellis HR 