The Good Fight: why embracing Conflict is essential for High Performance Teams
In the pursuit of high performance, many teams strive for harmony and unity, believing that conflict is detrimental to productivity and cohesion. However, renowned author and leadership expert Patrick Lencioni challenges this notion, asserting that great teams don't avoid conflict; they address it head-on and find solutions that benefit everyone involved.
Lencioni's insights stem from his seminal work, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," where he identifies absence of conflict as one of the common dysfunctions hindering team performance. He argues that when team members shy away from expressing dissenting opinions or engaging in healthy debate, it results in artificial harmony, missed opportunities for innovation, and ultimately, compromised outcomes. Instead, Lencioni advocates for a culture where conflict is embraced as a natural part of collaboration, allowing teams to confront issues openly and work towards collective success.
The essential ingredient needed for healthy conflict within teams is the presence of trust. We trust people who are transparent and who we know from experience to deal honestly.? People who we know to have no hidden agendas and who we can rely on to behave in an authentic manner.
“The opposite to conflict is not peace, it’s groupthink.” - Tiffany Crosby (ATD)
For teams to navigate conflict effectively without it devolving into chaos or eroding trust they need to develop a deep understanding of team dynamics, individual strengths, and communication styles.
This is where tools like Belbin Team Role Assessment help to increase not only self-awareness but also an understanding of the rest of the team. Belbin focuses on how we behave rather than personality, reflecting what we do rather than who we are. It ?provides valuable insights into the preferred roles and contributions of each team member. By understanding their own strengths and those of their colleagues, team members gain clarity on how best to leverage individual talents and foster collaboration. For example, a team member identified as a "Shaper" may excel at challenging ideas and driving action, while a "Coordinator" may be adept at facilitating consensus and keeping the team focused on goals.
When team members appreciate and respect each other's unique contributions, they are more likely to engage in constructive conflict resolution rather than personal attacks or defensiveness. Perhaps even more importantly, greater awareness of our preferred behavioural roles in teams allows us, indeed even encourages us where needed, to change, providing us with a flexible approach to make the best contribution to the team.
When one group of some twenty middle and senior executives I worked with looked at how their preferred roles where distributed across the nine team roles they quickly saw that none of them preferred the Shaper role. This prompted their CEO to exclaim: “No wonder we talk and have brilliant ideas but never seem to get them implemented quickly enough!” which then led him to give himself permission to push and be more demanding with respect to execution.
Embracing conflict within teams doesn't mean encouraging discord or hostility. Instead, it involves creating a safe and supportive environment where diverse perspectives are welcomed, and disagreements are viewed as opportunities for learning and growth. When team members become more self-aware and aware of each other’s strengths and preference, ?trust each other's intentions and are committed to a shared vision, they can engage in healthy conflict without fear of reprisal or judgment. Our TEAMSynergy(tm) Clinic is designed as a highly cost-effective team building intervention, offering a high return on an investment which is low in cost and manhours.
By leveraging tools like Belbin Team Role assessment, teams can gain greater insight into their dynamics and communication styles, enabling them to navigate conflicts more effectively and ultimately achieve higher levels of performance. Managing conflict is a skill and starts with you shifting your mindset from avoiding conflict to embracing it as a catalyst for innovation, collaboration, and success.
And if you want to improve your conflict management skills, you can register at bit.ly/KA-Masterclasses and join us for our masterclass The Good Fight: Managing Conflict.