Why does conflict occur in teams?

Some of the main reasons conflict occurs in teams include a lack of effective communication, competition, personality differences and underperformance.

What should managers do when conflict does arise?

The best thing for managers to do when conflict arises is to address it head on. If conflict goes unresolved in a team environment it can fester and cause big and costly problems for companies. At the very least it can cause a communication breakdown in your team and at worst it can negatively impact on company results and increase staff turnover.

When conflict arises, managers and leaders have an opportunity to strengthen communication and trust within the team. To be effective, leaders must calmly and objectively address the issue with a direct conversation. Coming to a resolution will involve setting clear intentions, being considerate of both sides and encouraging input.

In some cases conflict can’t (and shouldn’t) be avoided in the workplace, but there are many ways to reduce the likelihood of it occurring. Here’s what you can do.

Hire the right people

Choosing the right people for your team can help to minimise conflict. By hiring people based on not only their experience and qualifications, but their personality type and working style, you can ensure they’ll fit in with your workplace culture and work effectively with other employees. JobFit is a great tool for selecting the right candidates. JobFit uses objective data to identify the attributes that will make a candidate most successful in the role, like personality, behavioural traits and occupational interests. By selecting candidates based on these attributes, you can handpick personality types that are likely to meld with your existing team members and workplace culture.

Seek out tension

One big mistake that poor managers make when conflict arises is to ignore it. Conflict can be uncomfortable to address, so many managers put blinders up when there is tension in their team. While it might seem easier to just ignore it, conflict that goes unresolved will not disappear. Unresolved conflict can reduce productivity, damage morale and cause disengagement within your team. To minimise the likelihood of conflict occurring, managers can look for tension points and address them before they become a problem.

Have regular one-on-ones

Having regular one-on-one meetings with each member of your team provides a forum for giving and receiving feedback, building trust within your team and making sure communication lines are strong and effective. One-on-ones also give you an opportunity to identify tension and problem areas.

Foster communication

One of the main causes of conflict in the workplace is ineffective communication. When team members don’t feel comfortable communicating with every member of the team, tension is given an opportunity to brew and cause problems. To foster communication, managers can regularly discuss individual and team wellbeing, have an open door policy, and most importantly they can adopt a coaching mindset. A coaching mindset is all about facilitating an environment in which individuals can grow, develop and solve their own workplace problems independently.

Undergo team coaching

A team coach works with teams to strengthen lines of communication and streamline collaboration so that individuals can work more effectively together. A coach provides non-judgemental support, ensuring the welfare of the team and can give teams the tools needed to address tension when it occurs. Team coaching can also help individuals gain a coaching mindset so that they can communicate more effectively and support their teammates to do the same.
To find out how your team could benefit from team coaching, contact us today for an obligation free discussion.

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Some of these more challenging issues can creep their way into your team’s workflow – damaging productivity and team success. These issues can sometimes act like a virus, going undetected until it’s too late and you experience your team performance crumble before your eyes.

A team coach gives teams the tools to identify and work through these issues before they become a bigger problem.

So what are the early signs that your team needs team coaching?

Your team isn’t hitting targets

A team is greater than the sum of its parts. While it’s a bit of a cliché, this statement couldn’t be truer when it comes to high performing teams. While individual talent is one of the key ingredients for driving company results, it doesn’t necessarily translate to the team hitting important workplace targets.

Team success relies entirely on effective collaboration. Take sport for example. An outstanding soccer player would not be able to succeed without the help from their team. A team coach can help teams overcome difficulties so that they can collaborate more effectively, work more productively and reach their targets.

There’s a communication breakdown in your team

It happens in all workplaces. People have different communication styles, some of which don’t blend easily together. This doesn’t mean certain members of your team are doomed to work in confinement. This simply will not work.

For a team to work at optimum performance, there needs to be clear and distinct lines of communication between every member of the team. Think of these lines of communication like electricity lines in a power grid. If lines are missing between members of your team, certain people will be left in the dark. Lack of effective communication can lead to misunderstandings and frustration among your team members. It can inhibit productivity, hamper morale and damage your overall team performance.

Team coaching helps teams communicate directly and efficiently so that teammates can work better together and improve team results.

There is a feedback gap

Constructive feedback is one of the most important tools that individuals and teams can use to work through challenges and improve results. While this is true, a really common workplace issue is the absence of regular feedback among teams – both positive and constructive. Feedback is best given frequently and to every member of a team in order for it to be effective. A coach will work with teams to streamline the way feedback is given (and received) so that individuals can work more constructively together and achieve team objectives.

Morale is low

Low morale can occur for many different reasons. Whether it’s personality differences within your team, an absence of transparency or a lack of forward progression, low morale can result in a major dip in productivity levels. It also often results in higher turnover rates which can cause companies to incur huge unwanted costs.

A team coach can help every team member feel ownership over their own success and the success of the team. This feeling of accountability helps to give team members a drive to succeed. It does wonders for team morale and can improve workplace results. A team coach will also give your team the tools to communicate more efficiently, build trust and improve engagement.

There’s tension in your team

Negative tension between members of your team can be extremely harmful for a number of reasons. It can draw focus away from important workplace tasks, hamper morale and damage employee engagement. Even worse, it can result in your best talent heading out the door.

While conflict isn’t inherently bad, when it isn’t addressed or resolved, it can interfere with a team’s workflow and inhibit success. Team coaching helps with conflict resolution and more importantly helps the team understand why a fear of conflict within the team can be detrimental to top performance. A coach will give members of your team the tools to identify conflict and address it head-on so that tension doesn’t brew and become a bigger problem than it needs to be. A coach will help each person in the team optimise their own communication skills and formulate strong lines of communication so that tension can be aired and overcome.

Our team coaching programs generally consist of a 6-12 month process that develops a team’s capacity to deliver measurable business outcomes and a self-sufficient approach to steer its ongoing development. In our experience, team coaching works best with newly forming teams, or when the membership of a team changes significantly, or when an existing team wants to ramp up their performance or reinvent itself to meet new business challenges.

To find out how your team could benefit from team coaching, contact us today for an obligation free discussion.

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While effective leadership and outstanding talent are essential ingredients in boosting team performance, a successful team relies entirely on effective collaboration. So, how can teams improve the way they collaborate? The answer is through team coaching.

Team coaching provides teams with the tools and communication mechanisms to achieve success. Similar to one-on-one coaching, team coaching involves developing individual accountability and improving performance. What sets it apart  is that it involves the development of teams to strengthen lines of communication, streamline collaboration and improve ongoing performance.

Here’s how team coaching improves team performance:

Improves team communication

Team success relies on the collaboration of individuals working towards collective goals. Without effective lines of communication, team success simply cannot be achieved. Effective communication is the basis for how well individuals work together, how feedback is given and received, the way in which individuals develop, and how conflict is resolved.

A team coach will work with teams to help improve these lines of communication. A coach can give teams the right tools and mechanisms to communicate effectively so that they can streamline team projects and improve performance on an ongoing basis.

Makes every team member accountable

When individuals feel accountability for their own mistakes and successes, they are more engaged with their work and more likely to achieve their goals. The same goes for accountability within teams. When individuals (no matter if they’re CEOs or junior executives) feel accountable for their team’s results, they are more likely to reach their goals independently and in collaboration with the team.

Team coaching works with every member of the team to instill a sense of accountability so that everyone in the team feels ownership over the team’s performance and results.

Resolves conflict

Most leaders find conflict resolution is a vital component of their role. A survey conducted by Stanford Business found that 43% of CEOs, board directors, and senior executives consider ‘conflict management skills’ to be their top area of concern. While conflict resolution is an important skill for leaders to possess, it’s just as important for individuals to maintain the skills to work through collective problems and manage disagreements promptly and independently.

Successful conflict resolution is one of the important skills that a team coach can instill in individuals and teams. A coach can give teams the right tools to develop an environment in which effective communication eclipses workplace conflict.

Boosts morale

High morale is a byproduct of effective team coaching. When individuals communicate effectively and reach collective goals, it can help to boost team confidence and morale. And when confidence and morale is elevated, team performance is likely to remain high. It’s a cycle that can be the difference between achieving great business results and the failure to reach important workplace goals. By boosting morale and improving engagement, employees are more likely to achieve their goals independently and with the team.

Lays the foundations for success

One of the underlying capabilities of team coaching is that it successfully instills a coaching mindset in each individual of a team. With this mindset, individuals are better equipped to communicate in the workplace and achieve important business objectives. It also gives them the skills to coach others to gain the same mindset. This is extremely valuable, particularly for training and developing new employees or new team members.

If you would like to learn more about how Directions Unlimited can conduct team coaching sessions with your teams to improve collaboration and performance, contact us: info@directionsunlimited.com.au

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