Hi, I’m David and my mission in life is to prepare people for the future of work.
In this week’s edition of the newsletter the theme revolves around dealing with conflict. More often than not, teams struggle to collaborate effectively because of a conflict within the group. While differences of opinion can yield positive change and even improved outcomes, personal differences in values can have a serious impact on productivity and work culture. Team members must understand that 'winning' the argument does not usually produce the best solution, and that the best solutions usually involve some integration of differences. When people put their heads together, truly intent and focused on learning from one another, they can come up with a solution that is better than anyone could have come up with alone. Leaders who do not fully grasp that conflict of some sort is necessary and even desirable are destined to fail. Therefore, engaging conflict directly and effectively should be a priority for any leader. In order to close the gap between how we want to lead and how we actually do lead, we need to learn how to engage conflict in a more constructive way. Below are some insights and thoughts that will help you deal with conflict productively.
Timeless Insight
“Proficient teaming often requires integrating perspectives from a range of disciplines, communicating despite the different mental models that accompany different areas of expertise, and being able to manage the inevitable conflicts that arise when people work together.” – Amy C. Edmondson
Management researchers who study conflict in teams such as Amy C. Edmondson, Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School and the author of Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy, have concluded that conflict, although rarely fun, can be productive; it can even evoke creativity and help a team achieve better outcomes. However, the key condition for team conflict to have a positive outcome is for the team members involved in the dispute to stay away from the personal and emotional aspects of conflict. Task conflict, which can be a difference of opinion between team members about the product design or its pricing can be useful. Relationship conflict, which is a personal friction or emotionality between team members, is counterproductive and should be avoided, because it can seriously damage team chemistry. Task conflict improves the quality of team decisions by engaging different points of view, while relationship conflict harms group dynamics and working relations, sometimes irremediably. Leaders who do not fully acknowledge that conflict of some sort is necessary and even desirable to teaming are destined to fail in all but the most routine of work environments. However, engaging conflict productively cannot be accomplished by avoiding emotions and personal differences. Openness, patience, and a willingness to make mistakes are required. At the very least, it involves a leader’s willingness to examine his/her own role in a situation, even in a heated disagreement, and to wonder: “How am I contributing to the problem?”
Food for Thought
Another quote I really liked from Amy C. Edmondson’s book, Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy, is “Conflict is conducted in the service of finding what is true and what to do about it.” However, when the stakes are high and conflicting opinions meet uncertainty, trying to remain cool can seem like a losing game. Understanding the behaviours that underpin and kindle conflict is vital to working as a team.
Most teams experience a temporary breakdown when conflict arises, and often, the individuals involved in the dispute will go back and forth, repeating the same points over and over again until they calm down or someone else intervenes to bring an end to the bickering. Conflicts can also heat up and escalate when three conditions are present: controversial or limited data that are subject to differing interpretations, high uncertainty, and high stakes.
Conversations between team members can get especially heated when they hold different values or beliefs, and/or have different interests and incentives. This can make aspects of the conflict hard to discuss productively, because people often hesitate to share their beliefs or mention the personal gains they anticipate from one of the potential decision outcomes. Such ‘heated conflicts’, rather than triggering new creative thinking, slow progress instead.
Many conflicts arise from personal differences in values or interests but are presented as professional differences in opinion. For example, if some executives believe that good design sells products while others believe that customers are primarily motivated by price, a conflict that pits design against price is a conflict of values. Values are beliefs we hold dear, and when our values are dismissed by others, even slightly, we react with strong emotions.
When conflicts pit values against each other, it can be not only necessary but also fruitful to engage in thoughtful discussions of the emotions, values, and reasons behind the conflicts. When done skilfully, this kind of open conversation allows meaningful progress on important challenges and debates. However, it requires acknowledging emotional reactions openly and exploring what led to them, rather than pretending they don’t exist and turning a blind eye.
In contrast to heated conflicts, calm and cool resolution of differences is easier when the reason for conflict is task-based, and not value-based. In such cases, disagreement readily submits to resolution through facts and reasoning. Differences of opinion can be overcome by unambiguously assessing the different options under consideration. In these situations, the author’s advice to engage conflict directly and effectively is both feasible and sensible.
Learning how to deal with both heated, value-based conflicts and cool, task-based conflicts, is crucial to building effective teams and managing people. First, leaders should accept that conflict is necessary and even desirable when it fosters respectful debate and yields mutually agreed-upon solutions that are often far superior to those first offered. Second, leaders should learn the skills needed to engage conflict both directly and effectively.
Author Amy C. Edmondson proposes four ways leaders can deal with conflict:
1. Identify the nature of conflict - Understanding the differences between types of conflict (i.e. value-based vs. task-based) allows leaders to better manage contentious exchanges.
2. Model good communication - Good communication when confronting conflict, combines thoughtful statements and questions, in order to identify the rationale behind each position.
3. Identify shared goals - By identifying and also embracing shared goals, teams are able to develop an environment of trust and overcome the attribution errors that erode respect.
4. Encourage difficult conversations - Through good communication, it’s useful to engage in authentic conversations that help build resilient bonds and put aside personal differences.
Article of the Week
Caricature of the Week
Source: Condé Nast
Thank you for reading and keep on growing!
David
