Why You and Your Teams Need Conflict!
Handling interpersonal conflict accounts for up to 30 percent of a leader’s time. In “traditional” organisations, any kind of conflict at work usually indicates a lack of structure or design. This then leads to fixing the conflict by strategies such as elaborating job descriptions and using central power to further define responsibilities, etc. But this creates a problem — using structure to solve for conflict only works in organisations that function in routine ways of working where innovation and change are not the priority. Also, the focus of leaders and organisations to build a happy and engaged workforce, has made them increasingly opposed to conflict.
Contrary to popular belief, research has shown that having conflicting bodies in the workplace could have positive outcomes at all levels — Individual, team and organisation. According to this functional view, having any form of conflict at work acts as a productive force; it helps employees build their skills and contribute to organisational innovation. This is based on theories which suggest that the key to success in an organisation does not lie in structure and order, but in creativity, adaptability and responsiveness.
All organisations today need to thrive in dynamic environments with constant change. In such workplaces, there is a frequent need to adapt new ways of work and shift priorities — both of which could give rise to disagreement. In other words, the idea of a conflict free environment does not exist. But conflict when managed appropriately has the potential to lead to better team collaboration and numerous positive outcomes.
Take a look at a few of the benefits outlined below -
Improved relationships
Building and managing relationships has become an essential skill for any leader in the workplace today. Organisational psychologists have found that by working through conflict together, leaders can develop closer connections with their teams and better understand their preferred styles of working. A manager’s overall perception gets hurt when they fail to respond to conflict in constructive ways. Thus, setting a culture of “good” fights and addressing any differences can go a long way in improving overall relationships at work.
Inclusive Work Environments
Conflict can promote diversity and inclusion. In fact, if leaders want to create a diverse team and promote inclusiveness, they must be prepared to disagree. While homogeneous groups may have similar styles and thought processes, research shows that it is in fact diverse teams that are more creative and by and large successful in actually completing tasks. While leaders’ feel the natural urge to avoid conflict and strive for absolute consensus, they should encourage ideas as well as disagreements to honour the very essence of diversity.
New Solutions
Creative friction leads to better work outcomes. When you and your team continuously challenge one another to think of better ideas and solutions, it pushes everyone to combine different perspectives and ensure that solutions are well thought through. If you and people in your team have different perspectives about the way forward on a new project, you’ll be forced to explore the pros and cons of each approach and ideally find the best solutions..i.e., You avoid getting into an echo chamber.
There are some ways you as a leader can make sure you make the most of conflicts and encourage healthy arguments amongst your team members:
Be the Adult : Psychologists have identified three main roles that people tend to slip into while managing conflict — Parent, child and adult. The parent can be excessively controlling whereas the child can be unreasonable during disagreements. The Adult is logical and focused on problem solving. It goes without saying — Always aim to be the adult.
Make it about balancing and not winning: to engage in a healthy conflict, go in with a mindset of achieving a balanced resolution and not winning the argument or proving your own point.
Normalise: Make conflict a norm. As a team leader, set clear examples of what productive conflict looks like and how tensions can in fact enhance creativity and performance. Articulate what desirable, healthy and productive tensions look like. This will help prevent you and your team from confusing diversity of thought as something flawed that needs fixing.
Through conflict, leaders and teams can challenge conventional thinking, identify threats and opportunities and forge new solutions. On the other hand, undiscussed and unresolved issues can stand in the way of innovation and progress. By developing cooperative relationships and the skills to discuss diverse views open-mindedly, leaders’ can empower their teams to use conflict to probe problems, create innovative solutions, learn from their experience, and enliven their relationships.
