Most of us have heard the enthusiastic cry of “hua” (hoo-ah) from a group of soldiers in response to an officer. What you may not know is that “hua” isn’t just a shout to express energy or excitement. “Hua” stands for “heard,” “understood,” and “acknowledged.” In the military, this confirms for an officer or fellow soldier that the message was received. In our world, “hua” can help us remember the essential steps in conflict resolution or problem recovery.

We have all experienced the maddening frustration of not being heard or understood in the face of a problem. It makes everything much, much worse. We’ve also experienced the amazing transformation of going from anger to relief to gratitude when someone listens to our problem and demonstrates that he understands what we’re saying and, more importantly, how we feel. When this person acknowledges what we’ve said with reassurance and an explanation of what will be done to help, it is like a massive weight has been lifted from our shoulders.

Like everything else in an organization, this is a cultural factor. Some groups have a culture of aggression. It’s an inefficient, ineffective way to work. Top performing organizations have a culture of assertive, honest conflict resolution, where there’s no hidden meaning, passive aggression, or focus on blame. The focus is where it should be, on resolving the problem and strengthening the relationship. It’s easy to be aggressive. It takes no thought and no intelligence. It’s tougher to master conflict resolution. But the payoff is that you create opportunities in the face of problems.