Conflict Resolution in a Team: Leadership Lessons

In any collaborative setting, particularly within the professional sphere, disagreements are inevitable. These conflicts often relate to task execution, responsibility distribution, and timeline adherence in team settings, and can arise due to varying opinions, personality differences, or working styles. However, conflicts do not necessarily need to lead to lingering resentment, decreased morale, or reduced productivity. Effective conflict resolution skills are indispensable for leaders in today’s evolving workplace; with remote and hybrid models rapidly becoming the norm, managers must oversee a variety of working environments. Whether in a remote or traditional work setting, possessing the necessary soft skills to resolve conflicts swiftly and effectively remains a cornerstone of good management. A skillful leader, by listening impartially to all perspectives and ensuring every team member feels valued, has the power to transform interpersonal disputes into opportunities for growth, innovation, and the strengthening of team bonds.

This brief guide presents scientifically backed strategies that help leaders to identify conflict origins, develop effective resolution tactics, and proactively minimize conflicts, cultivating a cohesive and productive team environment.

Conflict Resolution in a Team: The Root Causes of Workplace Disagreements

Workplace disagreements stem from various factors, typical triggers include micromanagement, inappropriate comments, differing project management styles, and inter-departmental disconnects over goals. These conflicts often manifest themselves as communication issues, personality clashes, and misaligned objectives, highlighting the diverse nature of challenges in organizational life.

Addressing these issues promptly is critical. Unresolved, they can irreparably harm team cohesion. Therefore, timely and direct confrontation of such issues can cultivate a positive work culture, enhancing productivity, innovation, and potentially making the organization more attractive to prospective employees.

Key Strategies for Conflict Resolution

At the heart of conflict resolution lies communication. Without the ability to effectively listen and understand the concerns of employees, other skills may fall short. Curiosity and a high emotional intelligence allow managers to empathize and respect the perspectives of their team members, approaching each situation with integrity, patience, and with a non-judgmental mindset. Excellent leaders are also adept problem-solvers who strive for equitable solutions without favoritism. While each manager will have his or her own unique methods for resolving conflict based on their personal leadership style and experience, certain techniques can be applied universally. As a general guideline, experts suggest these recommendations.

• Ensure open, transparent communication, setting up a neutral space for discussion.
• Actively listen to all parties involved, identifying shared objectives and misunderstandings that can be leveraged towards a collective resolution.
• Focus on the issue rather than personal attributes, seeking points of commonality and contention.
• Develop and prioritize a clear action plan to tackle the conflict.
• Act promptly on the identified solutions to avoid further disputes.

Preventing Conflict

Preventing conflict from happening in the first place is, of course, preferable to mediating between two sides already locked in a disagreement. While it’s understood that conflicts are inevitable in any professional setting, adopting certain best practices from the outset can significantly reduce the risk of tensions arising. Often, it’s a matter of leading by example, whereby managers and leaders demonstrate through their own behavior the way they would like their employees to interact with each other. This typically involves communicating in an open and constructive fashion, being approachable, and providing a sufficiently flat hierarchy to ensure people feel comfortable expressing their feelings or ideas. Particularly when working in a remote or hybrid setting, it is wise to offer guidance to your teams on digital communication etiquette; if conflict does arise, always favor face-to-face discussions (be they in-person or virtually) whenever possible to prevent misunderstandings and promote a workplace culture rooted in respect and civility. Such an environment ensures that all employees feel comfortable and safe expressing their concerns, paving the way for more effective collaboration and problem-solving.

Navigating Conflict in Remote and Hybrid Settings

Addressing conflict becomes more challenging in remote or hybrid work environments due to the reliance on digital communication, which can easily lead to misunderstandings. Managing conflict resolution virtually still adheres to many traditional principles but may require adjustments for online settings. The following tips, shared by members of the Forbes Coaches Council, offer guidance for leaders of remote teams to enhance their virtual conflict resolution efforts.

• Avoid resolving conflicts via email; opt for video calls or in-person meetings whenever possible.
• Ensure technical support for remote employees to prevent tech-related frustrations.
• Maintain transparency and alignment in team schedules and expectations.
• Trust in your team’s professionalism, focusing on outcomes and workload discussions to gauge performance.
• Encourage relationship-building among remote team members to foster trust and reduce the chance of conflict.
• Provide a cooling-off period for heated situations and align team efforts with the organization’s broader goals to help refocus and see the bigger picture.

The Science of Conflict Management

Conflict management – be it in a professional context or otherwise – is such a highly valued skill that there is much academic research on the subject. Numerous university and online courses, books and coaches are dedicated to teaching strategies that are rooted in scientific research and real-life application of their theories.  All these theories are rooted in the basic idea that, for conflict management to be effective, there must be certain processes and techniques that can be universally applied to help achieve a mutually satisfying outcome.

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (PON) is a research center focused on enhancing negotiation and dispute resolution methodologies between individuals, organizations, and countries. PON’s extensive research has revealed several proven conflict strategies that work. Among these are:

1. Recognize Our Fairness Bias: We must acknowledge that our perceptions of fairness are inherently biased. In conflicts, both sides tend to believe they are right due to our inability to see the other’s perspective; this idea is also backed by research from Carnegie Mellon University. It is crucial for the manager to act as an unbiased mediator to bridge the gap in understanding.
2. Avoid Threats: Discourage all parties involved from using threats and provocative moves, this approach only serves to escalate tensions as people tend to respond negatively to aggressive tactics. Explore all other conflict management avenues before resorting to threats or ultimatums.
3. Beware of Group Bias: Loyalty within groups fosters strong bonds, however, “groupthink” is a cognitive bias that can lead to “us vs. them” divisions, resulting in distrust towards outsiders, and distorting the perception of opposing views. To mitigate group bias, encourage individuals to focus on shared goals and similarities. This approach helps to lower defenses and create a more cooperative environment.
4. Address Underlying Issues: Disputes are often disguised as surface issues, concealing deeper reasons behind the conflict. This is frequently the case with financial matters, which can give rise to feelings of resentment, being disrespected, or overlooked. If you sense there’s more to the conflict than what is being revealed, take time to explore each person’s deeper concerns, listen closely to their grievances, and try to devise creative solutions to address them.

If handled correctly, these strategies can overcome conflicts and strengthen the relationship between all parties by encouraging openness about deeper feelings. These approaches are grounded in the core principles of maintaining self-awareness, keeping an open mind, and striving to understand the other side’s point of view.

The SCARF Model

The SCARF Model, developed by David Rock in 2008, is a framework designed to enhance interpersonal effectiveness by understanding human social behavior. SCARF stands for Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness — five domains that significantly influence our interactions and can trigger either threat or reward responses in the brain, akin to physical survival mechanisms.

The model illustrates why social scenarios often evoke strong emotional reactions that are difficult to control. For instance, being excluded can feel as painful as a physical injury, highlighting how deeply social threats can affect us. Conversely, social rewards, like receiving praise, can boost happiness and motivation by releasing dopamine.

In the workplace, perceiving a threat can hinder creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration; conversely, feeling one’s efforts are being acknowledged enhances confidence, empowerment, and performance. The SCARF Model provides strategies to help minimize threats and amplify rewards across its five domains:

1. Status: Avoid diminishing others’ status with harsh feedback. Instead, offer constructive criticism or involve them in evaluating their performance to maintain their sense of respect.
2. Certainty: Combat uncertainty by clarifying expectations and breaking down complex tasks into manageable parts, thus reducing anxiety and enhancing focus.
3. Autonomy: Resist micromanaging. Promote autonomy by delegating tasks and involving team members in decision-making, fostering a sense of trust and independence.
4. Relatedness: Strengthen connections within the team to prevent feelings of isolation, using methods like buddy systems or regular check-ins, especially with remote members.
5. Fairness: Ensure fairness by being transparent and equitable in all dealings. Address perceptions of unfairness openly to avoid triggering negative emotional responses.

Effective application of the SCARF Model requires a nuanced understanding of individual team members, recognizing that responses to social stimuli can vary widely. Leaders should strive to identify what constitutes a threat or a reward for each person, tailoring their approach to support a positive and productive team environment.

The Thomas-Kilmann Instrument (TKI)

The final conflict management technique we will look at in this article is the Thomas-Kilmann Instrument (TKI). Developed in the 1960s by Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann, TKI is a renowned tool for leaders to understand and navigate workplace conflicts more effectively. It outlines five strategies — competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating —rooted in assertiveness and cooperativeness, which enable a balanced approach to meeting both individual and team needs.

By using the TKI managers can break down conflict into categories, namely win-lose, win-win, and lose-lose situations, which gives them a strategic view for handling disagreements. Leaders can tailor the TKI framework to fit the unique context and culture of their organization, enabling them to identify common ways people deal with conflict and tweak their approaches as needed.

Running dual TKI assessments helps evaluate how things inside and outside the company affect how we solve conflicts. Managers can use this knowledge to develop tailored plans that build a supportive workplace, encourage open communication, and enhance team collaboration. TKI aims to equip leaders with the ability to turn conflicts into opportunities for team development and organizational progress.

Conclusion

Ultimately, while team disagreements are inevitable, they don’t have to derail workplace harmony. Managers can significantly mitigate these conflicts by establishing clear guidelines for expected behavior and implementing a robust conflict management protocol. Equipped with the right soft skills, managers can swiftly address disputes as they arise, leveraging these conflicts as opportunities to forge stronger, more cohesive teams. This approach turns conflict resolution within a team into an opportunity for strengthening relationships and fostering positive organizational growth.