Conflict is bound to occur when working as part of a team, whether a group of two people, two thousand people, or somewhere in the middle. This conflict may form due to differences in experiences, beliefs, priorities, or personalities. The important thing for leaders to recognize is that conflict will occur. And they must plan to manage and overcome that conflict.
Peter Lencioni identifies the importance of “Mining for conflict” in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. He highlights that leaders of teams should encourage professional conflict within their teams when decisions are being made. Buy-in from the team is low when there is no opportunity for disagreement, debate, and resolution of differing opinions. Team members who feel their position on a decision will not be heard, especially if they disagree with it, may find other ways to “prove” that the decision was wrong. Silence or apathy from your team when decisions are being made is a warning sign that they are not invested in the decision.
This was the case for one of the last organizations I was a part of. The organization had a very top-heavy structure with significant micromanagement from the most senior levels. Small routine actions were scrutinized and debated daily. Decisions making involved only the most senior people within the organization voicing their opinions. Opinions or insights provided by anyone outside this core group were not entertained and were met with ridicule and condemnation.
The perception throughout the organization was that ideas from “Lowly staff members” were “Not required.” To make matters worse, some members of the core “Leadership” team were allowed to bully or otherwise dominate the conversation. This resulted in two or three personnel controlling the conversation and steering decisions to their preconceived idea of how things should be done.
Internal to my department, we had a very different perspective on candid debate and decision-making. Our department was a multi-functional team comprised of various supply chain and logistics-related specialties. Each functional area had a supervisor responsible to the department supervisor on all things related to their functional area. As a team, myself and the other supervisors regularly disagreed with each other on a professional level. These disagreements stemmed from differing priorities, resources, and perspectives. While we regularly did not see eye-to-eye on how things should be done, we ALWAYS took the time to work through our disagreements and come to common terms. This allowed us to work through issues and ensured we presented a unified message when passing on tasking and decisions to our respective teams. Our open and candid debates allowed us to build mutually supporting plans that met everyone’s needs and ensured we remained aware of the needs of the entire department. Over the course of more than a year, our ability to work through issues as a team allowed us to develop mutual respect and trust (and, in most cases, admiration) for each other. These relationships allowed us to work significantly more efficiently and effectively than our counterparts in other departments, which parroted the organization’s top-down decision-making model.
Throughout my time with this organization, I experienced both the positive and negative impacts of conflict management within an organization. Leaders must recognize the signs of poor conflict management and cultivate a positive environment of “Mining for conflict.”
Signs of Poor Conflict Management Within Organizations
Differing Opinions Are Met With Open Hostility and Belittlement
This is the clearest sign that the organization does not value inputs from personnel. Team members are bullied into “Accepting their fate” or otherwise conforming to the group.
Sarcastic Responses to Differing Opinions
Nothing kills open debate faster than a poorly-timed sarcastic comment. These comments tell the rest of the group, “I don’t value your input enough to provide you a well-thought-out response.” Additionally, these comments prevent additional comments from others in the group and stall the discussion.
Don’t get me wrong, as someone with a dry sense of humor, I tend to use a lot of sarcasm in the workplace. However, for those like me, we must recognize there is a time and place for sarcasm. These comments are acceptable in routine conversations with people you have developed a positive relationship with. However, when people are openly discussing their thoughts, beliefs, and opinions these types of comments should never be tolerated.
One-on-One “Off-line” Communication Driving Decisions
When decision-making involves a group of professionals, all conversations and debates should be held with the whole group or at least a large majority of the group. If decisions are going to be made at senior levels and levied down to the organization without additional personnel being involved, then that needs to be made clear. The decision-making process becomes muddy and messy when decision-makers hold small group or one-on-one discussions and then bring the outcomes of those discussions into the larger group. Our organization’s core “Leadership” team would regularly hold these types of conversations and then present them to the larger group as “The two of us discussed this and we will be doing [insert action]” or “As we discussed in your office yesterday we support [insert action].” These types of small discussions devalue the input of the rest of the staff.
If these signs are present within your organization you likely have a culture of poor conflict management. In certain organizations this culture fits, but, that is not the standard. When leadership stifles discussion and debate they risk losing buy-in and passion from their teams which will, eventually, lead to under-performing, falling short of company goals, and increased personnel turn-over.
Join us throughout January and February as we explore various topics related to cultivating positive culture within your organization.
We hope you will join us on this journey as dive into:
- Defining Organizational Culture
- Signs of Poor Conflict Management Within Organizations
- Fostering Professional Relationships
- Overcoming Toxic “No” Culture
- Overcoming Toxic Leadership
- Designing Effective Communication Networks
- Building Winning Teams
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