How New Managers Can Navigate Cross-Functional Conflict

New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: First 90 Days, Managing Former Peers, and Leadership Basics · Jul 9, 2026 · 8m · transcript

Episode 103 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the hardest and least-taught skills for first-time leaders: resolving conflict with peers in other departments. Lucas and Luna break down a real scenario—a new product manager clashing with engineering over deadlines—and walk through three specific moves: separating positional from personal stakes, finding the shared metric, and escalating without burning bridges. They draw on research from the Harvard Negotiation Project and a 2025 study on cross-functional friction in mid-size tech firms. No generic 'communicate better&#x27…