In getting to your goals, friendly is faster.

It's getting a little tense out there.

As business performance worsens, people worry about their jobs and reputations. Then pile on layoffs. Now people become overworked as they try harder to achieve more distant objectives with fewer resources. Which further fuels anxiety.

The environment is ripe for border skirmishes. Pointless battles between colleagues, between departments, between businesses. Avoid them at all costs.

Not that you would ever launch an I'm-right-your-wrong exercise, of course. But the other person might. Don't get dragged in. You don't have time. When being right, fueled by stress and anxiety, takes over the goal of finishing a project, making a sale, resolving an issue or finalizing a partnership, everybody loses. You lose energy in the worst way possible as negativity saps your creativity. You lose another precious resource, too: time.

I have a sticky note trick for navigating these challenges. I jot down the objective I'm trying to reach with the other person, and put the note where I can see it regularly. It is easier to avoid taking the bait from an I'm-right-your-wrong challenge when your real goal is right there in front of you.

Stay civil, even if the other person doesn't. You'll achieve more. You know this already, obviously. We learned it in kindergarten. Just a friendly reminder that being friendly gets you where you need to go faster.