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Conflicts occur in every team, whether it’s a clash of ideas, working and communication styles, attitudes, or sometimes attitude. As Lance Haun pointed out in one of his blog entries, sometimes conflicts should not be quashed; in fact, they may need to be encouraged in order to foster the required innovation to solve certain problems. As long as the team is united when presenting or showing a product or concept to the clients or customers, I’m fine with the constructive conflict happening when the team is discussing ideas brainstormed in a team meeting. The most important result out of those conflict sessions is to avoid having problems brewing b/c of those conflicts, and solve those problems before they snowball into bigger, unsolvable team dysfunction.
Below are some tips that I have organized from the responses that I have asked my contacts/networks about this question:
- Communication: Similar to my previous blog post about dealing with problem-causing ego-centric team members, this is one of the most important factors to consider. Communication channels have to remain open in order to converse with team members to clear up misunderstandings.
- Positivity: When conflicts are causing problems, the mood of the team is usually negative. Negative attitude can break teams apart and their previous successes much more quickly than the amount of time required to build up the positive reputation. It sucks energy out of the team but not necessarily accomplishing anything. It is absolutely crucial to maintain a positive outlook and attitude among the team members despite the differences.
- Honesty: Having regular team feedback in current team dynamics and progress is always helpful in the team, despite the extra time it takes to conduct such feedback. For example, Toastmasters clubs have regular events called “Moments of Truth” where club members provide feedback for the officers to improve various aspects of club meeting and business, and to learn good practices to continue executing them. Honesty is important in the feedback process (and during the course of team operations) b/c it allows the team leader to compare both sides of the argument before problems develop from conflicting opinions. The situation of disagreement and committing to such conflicts can also be avoided if team members are honest for the benefit of the team’s success.
- Buy-in: I received this tip from Mary Budge on Brazen Careerist network. Before the team leaves the meeting room, everyone should be on the same page in terms of overall team goals. A team is not the sum of the individuals in it. Regardless of the conflicting ideas, buy-ins are required to come up with a collectively-compromised decision similarly to committing to completing individually-assigned tasks to ensure success.
- Proactive: If there are any team members who remain to view certain conflicts negatively or protesting about certain decisions negatively, steps must be taken to alleviate those issues before they get snowballed into bigger issues. The team leader should approach those members privately and coach them in order to alleviate those problems, while providing encouragement and comfort.
What are your thoughts of facilitating team conflicts and preventing problems spawning from them? Please feel free to leave your comments below or email blog@sysil.com.
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