12 Simple and Practical Tips for Embracing Healthy Conflict

Like it or lump it, conflict is an unavoidable part of team training

Conflict is a key issue for team training. How effectively the team deals with it will often determine their long-term success.

Fear of conflict is the second dysfunction in Patrick Lencioni’s “5 Dysfunctions of a Team” and it stems from a sense of artificial harmony, or a desire to ‘keep the peace’ no matter what.

This means that all that passionate, productive debate you’d like from your meetings? You can’t expect it from a team that’s afraid of conflict!

Teams that face up to conflict and engage in it productively are more likely to have interesting meetings, solve problems quickly and keep office politics to a minimum.

Avoiding disagreements will do more harm than good in the long term, with passive aggression and back channel comments becoming more likely as team members don’t voice their opinions.

Is your team made up of people who are afraid to speak up and instead just nod along? Is this making your meetings boring? Artificial harmony may be the reason.

If this is a problem for your team training, put some of the tips below into action and see what happens.

12 tips for healthy and productive conflict

#1: Recognise the importance of conflict for productivity

Stress with your team the importance of getting things into the open, and bring up the benefits of engaging in healthy conflict in team training.

Conflict must be addressed in the open and not kept hidden.

#2: Understand and communicate your own conflict style

Consider your own reactions to conflict. Recognise any problems you have when facing up to conflict and take active steps to address them.

#3: Get to know the conflict styles of team members

The first step in dealing with fear of conflict is to understand the differences of team members when it comes to facing up to conflict.

TTI tools can give you an insight into people’s behaviours, driving forces (motivators), competencies, acumen capacity and EQ.

Producing a group wheel (as below) and putting it on the wall can serve as a reminder of the different styles of team members.

Get the team together for a meeting to discuss how they feel about conflict with one another, and the challenges they face.

#:4 Look for the opportunity

Where there is disagreement or conflict, there is an opportunity for tremendous growth and development.

Leverage conflict to get the best out of your people and clear the air. It can lead to innovation, greater team training and leadership development.

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#5: Turn things around using requests

When we are annoyed with someone or in a position of conflict at work, it’s normal to focus on their negative behaviours or actions. We can be blinkered and only see what’s bothering us.

Upguard make the great point that turning complaints into requests can bring about a far better outcome.

It flips the tone from a negative to a positive one and creates an environment for a more productive conflict.

#6: Set the ground rules and define expectations for conflict

In your next team training, lay out the guidelines for healthy work conflict and encourage your team members to add their ideas.

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