5 Steps To Manage Conflict Between Team Members
Summary
TLDRThis video, led by Jess Coles, offers a five-step guide to effectively manage conflicts between team members. It emphasizes the importance of being proactive, understanding the root causes of conflicts, and addressing difficult individuals or incompetence. Key steps include digging beneath the surface to find underlying issues, improving communication, and implementing changes. By following these steps, managers can reduce workplace tension, enhance team dynamics, and foster a more harmonious and productive environment.
Takeaways
- 🔍 Proactively addressing conflicts within teams is crucial to preventing them from worsening and impacting performance.
- ❓ Understanding the causes of conflict by asking questions and gathering specific examples helps to identify the root issues.
- ⚠️ Difficult people, such as bullies or those with behavioral problems, should be managed carefully, with coaching or, if necessary, removal from the team.
- 👎 Incompetent individuals causing conflict should be placed in roles where they can contribute positively, avoiding resentment from colleagues.
- 🔧 Investigating organizational setups, conflicting goals, and overlapping responsibilities can uncover underlying causes of team conflicts.
- 💬 Improving communication between conflicting parties helps them understand each other's perspectives, reducing tension and leading to better solutions.
- 🤝 Acting as a mediator, rather than a manager, helps guide individuals toward finding their own resolutions to conflicts, ensuring better ownership of outcomes.
- 📝 Implementing changes that address external causes of conflict, such as conflicting responsibilities or goals, is essential to resolving issues.
- 🔨 Building support for proposed changes within the team and across departments helps ensure that changes are successfully implemented.
- 🧠 Conflict can arise from various sources, including personal behavior, team dynamics, and organizational structure, requiring thorough investigation and tailored solutions.
Q & A
What is the first step to managing conflict between team members?
-The first step to managing conflict between team members is to be proactive. This involves addressing the conflict early and investigating what is causing it, as conflicts usually do not resolve themselves without intervention.
Why is it important to be proactive in addressing team conflicts?
-Being proactive is important because conflicts can negatively impact the team atmosphere and performance. If left unresolved, the conflict may escalate, affecting both the individuals involved and those around them.
What are some initial questions to ask when identifying the cause of conflict between team members?
-Some initial questions include: 'What does the other person do that you find difficult?' and 'What organizational rules or goals might be putting you in conflict?' These questions help pinpoint specific behaviors contributing to the conflict.
How can difficult people or incompetence contribute to team conflict?
-Difficult people, such as bullies, and incompetent employees can be significant sources of conflict. Their behavior or inability to meet job demands can create tension among team members, leading to conflict.
What steps can be taken to manage conflict caused by incompetent team members?
-To manage conflict caused by incompetent team members, it's important to find them a more suitable role where they can perform effectively, thus reducing the frustration and resentment felt by others who may be cleaning up after them.
What are some common organizational causes of conflict between team members?
-Organizational causes of conflict may include overlapping responsibilities, conflicting goals, differing performance levels, or pressures from management. These factors can create tension between employees or teams.
Why is it important to work on communication when managing conflict?
-Working on communication is crucial because it helps individuals understand each other's perspectives, assumptions, and pressures. Improved understanding can significantly reduce or even resolve the conflict.
What role should a manager play in mediating conflicts between team members?
-A manager should act as a mediator, asking questions to guide the discussion rather than imposing solutions. This helps the conflicting parties reach their own understanding or compromise, which increases the likelihood of long-term success.
What is an example of external factors causing conflict in a team?
-An example of external factors causing conflict could be conflicting goals between departments, such as a sales team focused on revenue and a finance team focused on profit. This type of conflict may require changes in organizational objectives to resolve.
How can a manager successfully implement change to resolve conflict?
-A manager can successfully implement change by clearly communicating the need for change, gaining support from team members, and persuading stakeholders to accept adjustments, such as altering responsibilities or aligning goals, to resolve the conflict.
Outlines
🛠️ Managing Conflict in Teams
Managing conflict between team members can be challenging, with potential impacts on the team, individuals, and management. Conflicts often stem from individual thoughts, feelings, and actions, not always from those openly disagreeing. The speaker, Jess Coles, shares insights from a 25-year career on addressing conflicts by following five key steps. Step four focuses on handling employee conflicts caused by differing opinions. The speaker also shares an example of workplace conflict driven by fear and insecurity. The goal is to resolve conflicts for improved team dynamics.
🚨 Proactive Conflict Resolution
The first step to managing conflict is to be proactive. Conflicts rarely resolve on their own and can negatively affect the team atmosphere and performance. Leaders must identify the root causes of conflict by asking those involved specific questions about behaviors that cause friction. In addition to speaking with the involved parties, it’s crucial to gather input from their peers. The aim is to understand the causes of the conflict, avoid jumping to conclusions, and maintain impartiality. Proactive intervention can prevent conflicts from worsening.
👥 Handling Difficult and Incompetent Employees
The second step is addressing conflict caused by difficult people or incompetence. Behavioral issues, such as bullying, or poor performance, can lead to workplace conflicts. Some individuals may improve through coaching, while others may require more drastic measures, such as role changes or even termination. Similarly, employees promoted beyond their skill set can create tension as their incompetence burdens colleagues. Placing individuals in roles that suit their abilities and resolving behavioral problems are essential steps in reducing workplace conflict.
🔍 Digging Deeper into Organizational Conflict
Step three involves investigating underlying causes of conflict within the organizational structure. Conflicting goals, overlapping responsibilities, and recent changes can all be sources of tension. By carefully examining these areas and talking to many people involved, managers can uncover the true causes of conflict. This might include pressure from managers, fear over performance discrepancies, or misunderstandings. A thorough investigation helps in finding lasting solutions to resolve conflicts that are often not immediately obvious.
🗣️ Improving Communication Between Conflicting Parties
Step four focuses on improving communication as a way to resolve conflict. Understanding the underlying reasons for the conflict, such as differences in opinions or external pressures, can lead to better communication. Acting as a mediator rather than a manager, leaders can help conflicting parties reach a compromise or mutual understanding. The mediator’s role is to guide the discussion and help individuals find a solution themselves, increasing the likelihood of success. Effective communication fosters mutual respect and reduces conflict.
🔄 Implementing Change to Resolve Conflicts
The final step is implementing changes to address external causes of conflict. For conflicts rooted in organizational issues like misaligned goals or unclear responsibilities, managers must make necessary changes. This could involve redefining job roles or aligning goals across teams, such as resolving conflicts between sales and finance departments with conflicting objectives. Building support for change within the organization is essential to ensure its success. Without support, conflicts will persist. The key is to address the root of the issue through strategic changes.
📊 Summary of Conflict Management Strategies
In conclusion, workplace conflicts arise from various factors, ranging from individual tensions to organizational dysfunction. Managers should act swiftly to address conflicts and prevent them from affecting team performance. The five key steps include being proactive, addressing difficult individuals or incompetence, investigating deeper causes, improving communication, and implementing necessary changes. Taking these steps ensures conflicts are managed effectively, improving overall team dynamics and productivity.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Conflict
💡Proactive
💡Difficult People
💡Incompetence
💡Underlying Causes
💡Communication
💡Mediator
💡Organizational Setup
💡External Factors
💡Compromise
Highlights
Managing conflict between team members can be a challenging task and may persist despite efforts to resolve it.
Conflict impacts not only the individuals involved but the entire team and can affect overall performance.
Understanding that conflict arises from differences in thoughts, feelings, and actions helps to address its root causes.
The first step in managing conflict is to proactively address it before it escalates and harms the team atmosphere.
Gathering specific examples of behaviors causing conflict helps in diagnosing the root of the problem instead of relying on opinions.
Addressing difficult personalities and incompetence is essential, as these behaviors can be key drivers of conflict.
Coaching or removing individuals who are unable or unwilling to change problematic behaviors can help resolve conflict.
Digging beneath the surface to find underlying organizational causes of conflict, such as conflicting goals or responsibilities, is important for long-term resolution.
Communication plays a crucial role in conflict resolution; understanding different perspectives can reduce tension between conflicting parties.
A mediator should guide conflicting parties towards their own compromise, as solutions they create are more likely to be successful.
Improving communication involves holding separate discussions, acting as a mediator, and leading both parties to a fair resolution.
Implementing change may be necessary to remove external causes of conflict, such as conflicting team goals or responsibilities.
Persuading team members and other stakeholders to accept changes is key to successfully resolving external sources of conflict.
Conflicting goals between departments, such as sales and finance, can be resolved by aligning objectives to reduce tension.
Quickly addressing and resolving conflicts not only improves team dynamics but also prevents long-term issues and supports team performance.
Transcripts
managing conflict between team members
can be a difficult task and sometimes no
matter what you do the conflict remains
conflict impacts the team the
individuals and you in fact nobody wins
conflict starts with what people think
feel and do and the source of the
conflicts may not be the people who
don't get on or are in open conflict
i take you through five steps to tackle
conflict between individuals or teams
get more insight into why the conflict
is happening and give yourself a much
better chance of resolving the conflicts
permanently
here's what i'm covering
step four includes five tips to handle
conflict between employees where
differences of opinion or perspectives
appear the main reason for the conflict
[Music]
my name is jess coles and i've had a
25-year management career in corporate
and household names through to sme
conflicts between sensible people
usually comes from differences or some
form of pressure fear or threat
for example i saw one colleague let's
call them bill behave very poorly
towards a new team member who was doing
a very good job and the conflict between
them stopped once bill was confident his
position was not under threat
and if you're new to this channel
enhance.training shares business and
people management expertise to help you
improve your performance and that of
your team and business
and if you like this video please give
it a thumbs up and subscribe
the first step to manage conflict
between team members is to be proactive
if conflict between employees has arisen
then chances are it will not reduce or
go away without changing what is causing
the conflict
conflict within your team does not help
anyone those directly involved in the
conflict nor those that have to work
around them
the team atmosphere can quickly drop and
the team performance will probably
follow
so be proactive and take steps to
resolve the conflict between the team
members
don't let the conflict faster and get
worse
before you take action finding out what
the issues are creating the conflict is
a pretty critical step
ask the individuals who are in conflict
what they think and feel
ask them questions like you know what
does x do that you find annoying or
stupid or difficult
what might cause person x to behave like
that
what organizational rules or goals might
put you into conflict with person x
get specific examples of the behaviour
causing the conflict rather than just
gathering opinion
then speak to those who are working
around the individuals in conflict
speak to their peers their line reports
the junior members of the team
ask what they are seeing ask them what
is causing the conflict in their view
you are looking for patterns in the
behavior within the conflict
aim to understand what the causes might
be not just the resulting behavior of a
conflict
remain as impartial as possible you're
looking to find out what is going on and
work out the why it is too early to
reach conclusions and certainly don't
take sides
the second step to tackle conflict
between team members is to deal with the
difficult people and the incompetence
conflict between team members can be
caused by people with behavioural
problems such as bullies and it can be
caused by incompetent people
both situations need to be tackled to
remove this potential cause of conflict
between employees
those with behavioural problems such as
bullies or overly demanding people or
difficult people need to be tackled
for some their behaviour can be changed
through coaching good management or
taking away the stresses or fears
causing their behavior
for others with behaviors very ingrained
or they're just unwilling to change
their approach then work out what action
you need to take to change the dynamic
such as moving them into another team or
another role or worst case moving them
out of the company
incompetent people you know those that
have been promoted too far or whose jobs
have grown too big for them you know say
within a fast-growing company can cause
a lot of conflict
their actions cause problems for those
that that work with them and those that
work around them and if people are
constantly having to clear up after them
they're going to grow angry and
resentful which can quickly lead to
conflict
get the incompetent individuals into a
more appropriate position in which they
can make a much more positive
contribution to their colleagues and the
company
take action to remove these sources of
conflict between team members
and once you've removed conflicts caused
by dysfunctional people and incompetent
people or work out that neither of these
are the cause of the conflict between
employees then
the third step to handling conflict
between team members is to dig under the
surface
once the more obvious causes of conflict
between employees have been checked for
and removed then causes of conflict can
be due to organizational setup
conflicting goals overlapping
responsibilities or territories or
recent changes implemented to name a few
dig under the surface and piece together
the possible underlying sources of the
conflict you know check firstly areas of
responsibility ensuring there are no
overlaps
secondly goals or objectives how goals
for individuals teams and departments
might be causing conflict to arise
between individuals
thirdly yeah performance levels
differing performance levels for those
in similar roles could be causing fears
or perceived as a threat or in teams and
bigger groups as well
fourth managers is the manager or
management figures putting pressure or
setting up individuals to potentially
come into conflict you know this might
be you or other managers around those
people
and fifth any other underlying reasons
that are causing misunderstandings
threats to status or influence within
the business or impacting the work input
or output of one or both parties to the
conflict
it can take some digging to find out the
real issues particularly as the
individuals involved in the conflict
between the team members may not be
aware of why the conflict is happening
ask as many people around the situation
as possible to get many viewpoints and
don't forget to look at yourself as
possible causes of conflict
find the underlying causes and you have
options to permanently remove the
conflict and thus behaviors of conflict
between the team members
the fourth step to manage conflict
between team members is to work on the
communication
when you understand the underlying
causes of the conflict working out a
lasting solution to the conflict
obviously becomes a lot more probable
communication between the parties to
build a true understanding of each
party's views feelings and reference
points is likely to make a significant
positive difference in the conflict
if they understand what is behind the
conflict differences of opinion very
different assumptions or references
different pressures or goals imposed
upon them or other external factors most
people change their perceptions and the
conflict reduces or even ceases
for causes of conflict that are largely
contained between two individuals such
as differences of opinion get the
individuals into room together
to improve communication and
understanding take the role of mediator
rather than manager
ask questions to get them thinking
rather than tell them information
lead them to understanding of the other
person's position
lead them to a decision or compromise
but don't make it for them
if they rather than you provide a
solution or reach compromise which they
think is fair then they are much more
likely to own it and therefore it be a
success
as a mediator you are also there to help
reach a compromise which is fair in your
eyes too
five sensible steps to improve
communication and reduce conflict are
firstly speak to each person separately
to understand their issues viewpoints
pressures etc don't take sides
secondly bring the two parties together
in a private meeting and act as a
mediator
third ask questions to build the
understanding and discussion between the
two parties in conflict
don't tell the information or your
opinions
fourth help both parties reach a
compromise or a mutual understanding
which both parties feel is fair
and fifth help the parties implement the
agreed solution or compromise
if the main cause of the conflict is
external to the individuals or the team
then additional actions are likely
needed
the fifth step to managing conflict
between employees is to implement change
implementing change as many of you will
know is not easy you have to get the
individuals and teams brought into the
change being proposed for it to have a
chance of being successfully implemented
for causes of conflict that are mainly
external to team members you know such
as conflicting areas of responsibility
or goals or objectives you as their
manager need to make changes to resolve
the conflict
as an example where it is your call to
set responsibilities for each party
where one person's responsibilities stop
and the other starts or setting both
parties goals
making the changes is within your
control
communicating and persuading those
within your team to accept the changes
should be very doable
if others outside yourself and your team
are responsible for inadvertently
causing conflict you know say setting up
conflicting team goals
then building support for change is
important to make that change happen
an example of conflicting goals could be
you know the sales team with a
revenue-only target and the finance team
with a profit-only target and the
finance team and the sales team keep
getting irated each other
you might need to speak to each person
on the management team and separately
persuade them to change how the goals
are calculated
all get the finance team and the sales
team to hammer out mutually supportive
goals and then take this to the
management team
if you don't build support to get enough
people to support the changes proposed
to have enough people to overcome the
vested interest or general inertia
change will not happen and the conflicts
will persist
this helps no one
so take the time to build support and
gain allies to make sure the change
happens
so in summary the causes for conflict
between team members covers a wide range
from individual to individual through to
teams and functions being in conflict
within a business
when conflict between employees or even
teams occurs take action to reduce
or resolve the conflict as quickly as
possible
get as much support and help as you need
the five steps to handle conflict
between team members and between teams
we've talked about are firstly be
proactive the why matters
secondly deal with difficult people and
incompetence
third dig under the surface
fourth work on the communication
fifth implement change
if you have any questions please leave
them in the comment section below and
i'll get back to you
thanks very much for watching and i look
forward to seeing you again soon
[Music]
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