How do you help your product team handle stress and conflict?

One of the most useful questions I've learned to ask when there's conflict between teams is "Do we agree on what we disagree on?" Half the time, the process of answering that question makes folks realize that what was perceived to be a disagreement/conflict was really just a misunderstanding.

When challenges arise, clear and consistent communication ensures alignment, reduces friction, and fosters a collaborative environment. It's the key to maintaining harmony and achieving the collective goals.

The best PMs understand communication is currency. The more you offer, the more you can buy. Now different currencies are worth differently for each “seller”. The sellers here are audiences. An All Hands audience will value visual story telling communication. A Manager will value action oriented bullet points. A leadership team will value TLDR. Adapting communication and overdoing it creates the value you need to succeed.

In my experience, the most important thing to communicate is to continuously remind your team of your goals and priorities and the plans you have in place to execute on those. It helps them keep everything in perspective, which subsequently reduces their stress. Keep their eyes on the prize!

Effective communication isn't just about conveying information; it's about creating an environment where every voice matters. In times of stress and conflict, fostering open dialogues is essential. Encourage team members to share their concerns, ideas, and feelings openly and respectfully. By doing so, we prevent misunderstandings, build trust, and resolve issues quickly, fostering a stronger, more resilient team.

Laugh! Use humor to lighten the mood; a fun environment can reduce stress and bring the team closer together. Casual Chats: Hold casual chats where team members can talk about fun topics, helping everyone to relax and bond. High-Fives All Around: Celebrate the small victories with cheers and high-fives, keeping the team spirit upbeat and motivated.

acknowledging your product team's achievements is a powerful way to mitigate stress and conflict. Celebrating milestones, offering praise, and providing growth opportunities not only boosts morale but also reinforces a positive team culture.

The most important principle of recognizing and rewarding is “praise in public, criticize in private”. Boosting motivation, and more importantly, fearlessness comes from a psychological safe environment where fairness and transparency is the reward of execution. Criticizing privately allows feedback to flow without chastising a team or a person. Praising in public offers the dopamine kick everyone should chase.

Recognizing and celebrating the hard work of our teams, whether it's on team, company or department level, is crucial for creating a motivated and less frustrating workplace. It's important to appreciate our colleagues' dedication because it not only makes them feel good but also strengthens our team spirit and common goals. When we regularly show our appreciation to our team members, we set the stage for ongoing success and a friendly work atmosphere. #Teamwork #EmployeeRecognition #Motivation ?? ??

Celebrate the small moments, they are very critical and they are very important to boost morale among team members. Break down your target into small milestones and make sure that you recognize the team and each individual for their collaboration and contribution

Encouraging open communication, shared goals, and defined roles not only increases efficiency but also minimizes misunderstandings and conflicts. Techniques like agile methodologies and brainstorming sessions promote cooperation, leading to enhanced problem-solving and innovative solutions. Collaboration also breaks down silos, promoting cross-functional understanding and ultimately improving the quality of work delivered.

Collaboration has phenomenal rewards: 1. Eases the job by distributing it 2. Has more diverse minds contributing 3. Decentralised ownership on the outcome 4. Allows teams to feel the win and the loss together The secret to collaboration is communication and engagement in group environments. This needs to be accomplished by everyone (engineering, design, product, etc)

Giving your product team the freedom to choose how they work and make decisions can help them handle stress and conflict better. When team members feel trusted and have autonomy, it boosts their morale and productivity, leading to smoother teamwork and more effective problem-solving.

You need to empower your time and stop micromanaging them. You have to be empathetic and check if the team needs support or wants to share insights but are not confident to share with you but you need to balance being pushy and encouraging the team.

Understand that flexibility and autonomy might lead to occasional mistakes. Embrace these as opportunities for continuous learning and a sense of responsibility for refining workflows and processes, fostering a more agile and harmonious work environment.

Help your team manage stress by promoting their well-being. Encourage breaks, exercise, and self-care. Create a supportive atmosphere where they can express emotions and seek help. By prioritizing wellness, you'll have a happier and more effective team.

Prioritize your team's wellness journey. Advocate for rest, healthy living, and mutual support. In times of stress, a cared-for team rises above. Your work is a reflection of your mental, emotional, and physical state. Take care of yourself first, and your work will benefit.

To deal with stress, we encourage our teams to do "water cooler meetings" or "pull-aside coffee chats" every once in a while (if possible also with cross-functional team leads). This would help build further rapport with them as well as also gain a different perspective on the challenge we have been facing.

The most challenging problems are always about people, not product. Product Managers must be great facilitators, specially when there’s change, or people are under stress. These are some behaviors that have helped me better collaborate with my team: - Over communicate - Both 1:1 and in groups. - Generate empathy across teams - Remind them that we’re all in this together. - Provide clarity - Simplify, explain what we’re not going to focus on, and why. Be especially mindful of making remote team members included. - Amplify diverse perspectives - Proactively seek out the opinions and ideas of the more introverted members of your team. - Increase transparency - If something bad is happening, make sure they learn about it from you first.

The words 'stress' and 'conflict' have different connotations when it comes to product building. A healthy amount of conflict is promoted in the team to encourage and support diverse thinking to make a more inclusive product. On the other hand, stress at some level could convey product decisions are getting tied to people's emotions in the team. Thus, team manager needs to ensure irrespective of product direction, everyone's opinions are heard, acknowledged and valued. After all, everyone is trying to be helpful in their own way in the team. That's why we call them a team. ??

Conflict resolution is an under-rated skill in my opinion. Since Product managers have to deal with a diverse set of stakeholders, who most likely, in today's day and age are based in different geographical areas, cultural influence plays a very important role. Best technique for an effective conflict resolution is going back to the basics – 1) get all affected parties in a meeting 2) have problem areas listed, along with possible solution approaches 3) pros and cons for each affected parties for each solution. Product managers should drive the discussions, keep the end goal clear i.e. "Vision" of the company and mediate across each affected parties centred around rational opinions.