What are the best strategies for resolving conflicts with team members who have different work styles?

1 Identify the sources of conflict

In order to effectively resolve conflicts, it is essential to understand what causes them. Common sources of conflict in product R&D teams can include divergent goals and expectations, communication breakdowns, personality clashes, and work style differences. For instance, team members may have different visions, priorities, and deadlines for the project; different ways of expressing, receiving, and interpreting information; different values, beliefs, and attitudes; and different preferences, habits, and methods for working. By recognizing the sources of conflict, you can address them more productively and avoid them from becoming more serious.

2 Use constructive feedback

Giving and receiving constructive feedback is an essential skill for resolving conflicts. Constructive feedback is specific, timely, respectful, and focused on improvement. It enables you to communicate your concerns, expectations, and suggestions to your team members, as well as to receive their input and perspectives. Constructive feedback can help clarify goals and expectations, recognize and appreciate strengths, identify and address weaknesses, and resolve and prevent issues. To give constructive feedback, you should be specific, timely, respectful, focused on the behavior or performance rather than the person or personality, balanced in including both positive and negative feedback, and actionable in providing clear and realistic suggestions for improvement. To receive constructive feedback, you should listen actively, ask questions for clarification or elaboration if needed, show appreciation for the feedback giver's time and input, and reflect on the feedback to identify how it can be used to improve your work.

3 Adapt to different work styles

Adapting to different work styles is a key skill for resolving conflicts. Work styles are the ways people prefer to work, such as how they organize, plan, execute, communicate, and collaborate. Common work style dimensions include structure, pace, focus, communication, and collaboration. By adapting to different work styles, you can enhance your compatibility and leverage your team's diversity to optimize performance. To do so, assess your own work style and understand your team members’ preferences. Adjust your work style to suit them and negotiate the best way to work together. This will help you match expectations and avoid conflicts, groupthink, and bias.

4 Apply conflict resolution techniques

The final skill for resolving conflicts is applying conflict resolution techniques, which are methods or strategies to manage, resolve, or prevent conflicts. Examples of common conflict resolution techniques include active listening, assertive communication, problem-solving, and mediation. To apply these techniques effectively, you should choose the appropriate technique that suits the nature and severity of the conflict, follow the steps or guidelines of the technique, and seek help or support from others such as a manager or mentor if needed. Active listening involves listening attentively and empathetically to what the other person is saying and reflecting back what you heard and understood. Assertive communication involves expressing your thoughts, feelings, and needs clearly while respecting those of the other person. Problem-solving involves identifying and analyzing the problem, generating and evaluating possible solutions, and implementing and monitoring the best solution. Lastly, mediation involves involving a third party who is neutral, impartial, and skilled in facilitating the conflict resolution process.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?