Managing Conflict with your Team
Maintaining a functioning, happy team is hard at any company. But at a startup, team is everything: every member needs to be engaged and working towards success. So what happens when conflict rolls along? How do you manage animosity or tension in a startup, especially while juggling all the other responsibilities that come with the earliest stages of starting a company? Luckily, you don’t have to wonder, because our team here at Vivaio has got you covered. Our founder and resident #coolboss, Luca Agea, had a lot to say about the importance of employees in a startup: “It’s almost like finding a cofounder… you need people you trust, who will be there for the long run.” And because employees at a small startup are really more like a team of cofounders, the team needs to stay as rock solid as possible. So, without further ado, here’s a couple tips on how you can keep your team rock solid.
First of all, you need to prioritize taking preliminary actions to prevent conflict before it happens. Make sure everybody understands her/his role at the company from the start: who will they be answering to? What will their day to day tasks look like? Who at the company will be their “onboarder,” to whom they can go whenever questions come up? If you don’t clearly define an employees’ responsibilities, you risk confusion and overstepped boundaries in the future. When you’re onboarding a new member of the team, make sure they understand that maintaining a healthy, happy work environment is at the center of your company’s values. This way, they know from the get-go how important early conflict resolution is to you and other employees.
We’ve decided to break effective conflict resolutions into two categories, based on whether you’re in a junior role/employee or in a senior role/founder. As an employee, you need to make sure you handle the situation with logic rather than emotion. If you are involved in the conflict directly, you should feel responsibility to resolve conflict quietly and professionally. If you are a member of the team but not directly involved in the conflict, speak up: if one or two people are bringing the atmosphere of the team to a different place, it’s definitely not worth it to quietly stand by. You have the power to be open with the people in the conflict. Be honest; urge them to resolve the issue between themselves. Relieve tension in any way you can.
As a founder or as somebody in a senior role, you have an even greater responsibility to keep the team happy. Ideally, you would not be involved in team conflicts. If you are, or if the issue becomes serious, you should model calm, logical behavior: call a team meeting, make sure to maintain the environment rational. If tempers flare up, use your seniority to maintain peace. Remember that if you call a meeting, the hope is that other team members have a higher level of respect for you (because it’s you/your company that employs them); use this to your advantage by collecting everybody’s attention and indicating the dangers that come along with conflict in a small startup company. By remaining calm, and modeling how to logically solve conflict, you set an example for how to handle future tensions with grace and confidence.
So, things to take away from this crapload of advice: every member of the team is invaluable, especially in a startup, contributing to the greater company culture and setting the standard for future hires. Every employee should care about the company enough to do their part in making peace or resolving any issue, whether day-to-day or major. So take preliminary actions to prevent tension, and if tension arises, handle it efficiently within the boundaries of your job description and don’t overstep boundaries. It’s important to have all members understand their roles and responsibilities, as well as how to dissolve conflict. Remember, at the end of the day, inability to get along = inability to innovate. And no innovation = BIG yikes!!
