When top performers clash
Harvard study on 4 types of team conflict: Here's what you can do about it
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In my leadership role at Amazon, two of the top performers on my small team were shouting at each other outside my office door.
When fights erupt, what can you do as a manager? And, what can you do if you are an Individual Contributor (IC) in the fight?
First, it is worth remembering that good, motivated employees often fight.
If you don't care, why get upset about it? While conflict must be resolved to make progress, the presence of some conflict can be a positive sign of passion and engagement. In the case above, both high performers cared about our project, but their visions conflicted. They were fighting for what they believed in.
This is healthy.
The unmotivated usually disagree silently and then do the minimum they need to be left alone. But, in motivated teams, conflict is bound to turn up on occasion, and a Harvard study says managers spend up to 20% of their time managing conflict.
As a result, leaders need to understand the conflicts and know how to handle them.
A great way to understand these conflicts is through the 4 types of common team conflicts laid out in a Harvard study1:
The Boxing Match: Two people within a team disagree
The Solo Dissenter: Conflict surrounds one individual
Warring Factions: Two subgroups within a team disagree
The Blame Game: The whole team is in disagreement
Here is how managers can address each of these conflict types and what ICs can do to help themselves and their teams when engaged in these conflicts.
The 4 types of team conflict and what to do:
1. The Boxing Match: Two people within a team disagree
35% of team conflicts involve two people disagreeing.
When two team members are at odds, it's essential to avoid escalation. The best ways to prevent the conflict from spreading are usually mediating privately and/or restructuring their interactions.
In my story, I stopped further escalation by jumping out of my office and telling the two engineers to stop shouting at each other. Both were honestly ashamed, not realizing how much their voices had risen or noticing the scene they had created.
Next, we discussed the conflict in my office.
One of the engineers wanted the project to succeed so badly that he was crying.
You may find this kind of passion hard to believe, but this employee is one of the best performers I have ever worked with. He deeply wanted to be proud of his work, and he wanted the project to be successful so that he could showcase it.
The last thing you want to do when addressing conflict is kill that passion!
What these two engineers needed was a mediator, and as a manager that will often be your role in all of the conflict patterns discussed here. As the manager, it is your responsibility to both remain calm and to bring a higher level of Emotional Intelligence skills to facilitate a productive discussion despite high tensions.
Manager Action: Intervene early by understanding the nature of the conflict. If two members are clashing, arrange a private discussion with just the three of you rather than making it a team issue. In those discussions, help them resolve their differences and, if necessary, adjust workflows to minimize their direct interaction. Only if a three-way discussion is completely unproductive should you consider individual meetings, as those often become he said / she said with you in the middle. Instead, use the three-way format to both resolve the problems and set the expectation / teach the skills to disagree constructively.
IC Action: If you find yourself in a conflict with a colleague, focus on the work, not the personal dynamics. Seek to understand their perspective and find common ground to help de-escalate the situation. If needed, request mediation from your manager.
Finally, remember that people cannot help but respond to your emotions.
If you want them to hear your ideas, you must find a way to process and manage your emotions so that your feelings are not written all over your face.
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2. The Solo Dissenter: Conflict surrounds one individual
Solo dissenters account for 20-25% of team conflicts.
When conflict centers around a single team member, it can be tempting for you and the rest of the team to marginalize or ignore them. However, this approach can obscure underlying issues such as unclear roles or personal challenges that the individual is facing.