What makes a team dysfunctional & unproductive?

In continuation of my article " What makes a team dysfunctional & unproductive" , glad to share the second reason for team dysfunction. Fear of conflict. If you missed my first series please read here-?

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/shailesh-kumar-53782114_team-performance-leadership-activity-7221066974125027328-hRMI?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

A conflict is a situation, in which inacceptable differences in interests, expectations, values, and opinions occur in or between individuals or groups. Unfortunately, conflict is considered taboo in many situations, especially at work. However, all great relationships, the ones that last over time, require productive conflict in order to grow. This is true in marriage, parenthood, friendship, and certainly in business. And the higher you go up the management chain, the more you find people spending inordinate amounts of time and energy trying to avoid the kind of passionate debates that are essential to any great team.?

It is important to distinguish productive ideological conflict from destructive fighting and interpersonal politics. Ideological conflict is limited to concepts and ideas, and avoids personality-focused, mean-spirited attacks. However, it can have many of the same external qualities of interpersonal conflict—passion, emotion, and frustration—so much so that an outside observer might easily mistake it for unproductive discord.

But teams that engage in productive conflict know that the only purpose is to produce the best possible solution in the shortest period of time. They discuss and resolve issues more quickly and completely than others, and they emerge from heated debates with no residual feelings or collateral damage, but with an eagerness and readiness to take on the next important issue.

Teams that fear conflict…

• Have boring meetings
• Create environments where back-channel politics and personal attacks thrive
• Ignore controversial topics that are critical to team success
• Fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of team members
• Waste time and energy with posturing and interpersonal risk management

Team That Engages in Conflict .....

• Have lively, interesting meetings
• Extract and exploit the ideas of all team members
• Solve real problems quickly
• Minimize politics
• Put critical topics on the table for discussion

Suggestions for overcoming fear of Conflict -The most important thing to overcome a conflict is to realize that it can actually be productive. Besides that, there are other methods that can be helpful:

Mining-?Team members who usually use the tactics of avoiding conflict should assume a role of a “miner” and extract the problems covered under silent disagreements. This is not easy as it requires courage to point out sensitive issues, yet it is very effective.

Real-time permission-?In the course of “mining” for a conflict, some people may get very uncomfortable and eager to end this whole story as soon as possible. To ease the tension, a leader can make a remark and remind them that the conflict they are involved in is "productive conflict", and that it is being encouraged on purpose.

Other tools-?Besides personality-type tests , there are others specifically designed to identify how a particular person reacts to conflict situations (like Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument). Knowing your natural inclinations, you can adjust them to situations and choose the most appropriate approach.

The Role of the Leader-?Very often leaders try to do everything possible to soften conflict, in order to protect their people. Though it can feel like losing control, it’s very important for a leader to step back, let the conflict flow, and let people develop their conflict management skills.

If the team doesn't engage in deep & fearless conversation due to Fear of Conflict , they may agree to the opinion or action but they may not be fully committed to the actions and that leads to third dysfunction of the team.??

Stay tuned to hear third dysfunction and share your perspective.