What do you do if your team is experiencing internal conflicts?

Acknowledge the Conflict: Recognize that a conflict exists and needs attention. Ignoring it can lead to a more toxic environment, affecting productivity and morale.

When my team faces internal conflicts, I apply agile principles to address the situation. This means promoting transparency, honesty and clarity in communication. I prioritize interpersonal relationships over processes and tools, involve all stakeholders in conflict resolution, and promote continuous reflection and necessary adjustments. By following these principles, I can help my team overcome conflict and work more efficiently to achieve our goals.

Address internal conflicts promptly by facilitating open and respectful communication among team members. Identify the root causes of the conflict and work together to find mutually acceptable solutions. Encourage empathy and understanding by allowing each party to express their perspectives. If necessary, provide mediation or seek external help to resolve the conflict effectively. Reinforce the importance of teamwork and respect to maintain a positive and productive work environment.

More often than not there will be some form of dysfunctional communications , building team cohesion requires everyone in the room knowing that the questions raised must be in the spirit of making everyone feel that their contribution is to drive a collective sense of purpose. Effective and efficient teams embrace conversations focused on a'trust critique' whereby defensive response is banned, while open expressions for overall performance improvement is embraced.

Start by facilitating open and honest communication among team members to understand the root causes of the conflicts. Encourage active listening and empathy to foster mutual understanding and respect. Mediate discussions to help conflicting parties find common ground and work towards a resolution collaboratively. Establish clear guidelines for communication and behavior to prevent future conflicts. Foster a positive team culture that values diversity of opinions and promotes constructive feedback. Remember, resolving internal conflicts requires patience, empathy, and a proactive approach to create a supportive and harmonious work environment.

Identifying common ground is critical in any conflict situation, alas many leaders fail to address it as quickly as they should , hence the likelihood of relationships tend to drift and grow with different interpretations of the cause . Phase one exploratory discussions , allowing those to share their concerns in open dialogue initially, while emphasising that listening is crucial . Phase two, my experience from phase one , find the common mode of thought and how and each value their positions and what responsibilities collide - this follows with clear facilitation and follow ups that are placed in the calendar.

As leaders, it's essential to foster an environment where active listening and empathy are prioritized. Instead of listening merely to reply, encourage your team to listen with the intent to hear and validate others' perspectives. Recognize that both parties may have valid arguments, and aim to create a space where everyone feels heard and understood. By building a culture of active listening and empathy, you can facilitate meaningful dialogue and foster stronger connections within your team. And dont make it personal! EGO is the enemy.

Schedule a team meeting in a comfortable environment where all members feel safe to express themselves. Establish ground rules for the discussion, such as actively listening without interruption and speaking respectfully. Encourage each team member to share their perspectives and concerns regarding the conflicts, emphasizing the importance of empathy and perspective-taking. Use active listening techniques to ensure everyone feels heard and validated. Facilitate a collaborative problem-solving process, encouraging the team to brainstorm potential solutions together and work towards consensus. By facilitating a dialogue, you can promote open communication, build trust, and find constructive ways to resolve internal conflicts within your team.

Encourage individuals to focus on their underlying interests rather than their positions. Help them identify common goals and shared interests that can serve as a basis for resolution. Create a safe and respectful environment for open communication. Encourage constructive dialogue and ensure that everyone has an opportunity to express themselves without fear of judgment or reprisal. Collaborate with the parties involved to brainstorm potential solutions to the conflict. If the conflict persists or if the parties are unable to resolve on their own, consider bringing in a neutral third party to mediate the dispute. A skilled mediator can help facilitate communication and guide the parties toward a mutually acceptable solution.

The Chinese word guanxi , basically tanslated 'establish good relationships with a negotiation party with the expectation of reciprocated moves during negotiation' with beliefs centred around a win-win negotiation (1) build trust (2) listen carefully (3) be transparent (4) be considerate (5) be fair (6) be committed to a win-win solution - embracing each of these principles will more likely be effective in a win-win negotiation.

I believe negotiation isn't always about finding a middle ground where both parties can meet. It's more akin to an equilateral triangle, with both parties at the base. Rather than pulling horizontally towards their positions, they need a shared point of reference to strive towards. This should be the main objective or mission of the team or company—a North Star that guides their efforts. As leaders, it's crucial to remind our teams of this higher perspective, emphasizing the importance of aligning their actions with this overarching goal.

Start by facilitating an open dialogue to understand each team member's perspective and the underlying reasons for the conflict. Encourage collaboration and brainstorming to generate potential solutions that meet everyone's needs to the extent possible. Identify common ground and areas of compromise, and explore creative options for resolution. Remain neutral and objective throughout the negotiation process, focusing on finding win-win solutions that benefit the team as a whole. Be patient and persistent, guiding the discussion towards consensus while acknowledging and validating the concerns of all team members. By negotiating a solution together, you can promote harmony, strengthen relationships, and foster a positive team environment.

Solutions always work in theory, but practice is a whole different story. That’s why you need to monitor the implementation of solutions and regularly check in with your team. Sometimes, your team members may agree to resolve a conflict, but only on the surface. The underlying issue may persist and resurface later if not addressed comprehensively. Therefore, ongoing communication and follow-up are essential to ensure that solutions are not just superficial fixes but actually address the root causes of problems. If you notice that a solution isn’t really working, you should step in and make necessary adjustments. This could involve gathering feedback from team members, and collaborating to come up with a more effective approach.

I've known leaders that didn't follow up and the situation they thought was solved got even worse, so be careful when monitoring progress.

Leadership isn't always easy, and if you're not comfortable with handling conflict, you're going to struggle to be a good manager. Reinforce the vision and culture narrative in every company-wide meeting, in every one-on-one, and be willing to hold people accountable if they go off track. Remind your team you're working together for that shared vision, and you've got to support each other to get there.

There are some organisations that talk about the common goal , however the conflict waves are disguised within . Leaders that are prepared to walk in the shoes of their field troops will receive a different perspective of how things can be changed , they don't know how to deliver the finer detail of their troops , but true leaders will get the barriers out of the way to help get the services facing northwards.

Make sure you learn from mistakes and ask your team to do the same. Remind them of all the issues that led to internal conflicts and ineffective communication in the past, and discuss strategies to prevent them from recurring. Emphasize the importance of open and transparent communication and collaboration. Additionally, establish clear channels for communication and collaboration, such as regular team meetings, project management tools, and feedback sessions, to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards common goals.

Set your personal standards and share your expectations with your teams - create the 'theatre of togetherness'. My experience, I coach fourteen key points that are non -negotiable when connecting with teams - also the potential of employing, communicating and integrating with four different generational demographics requires clarity, whereby the cultural behaviours will flourish .

Preventing future conflicts means fostering a culture where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities. Train individuals to listen for understanding, not just to reply. Emphasize that every problem is a company issue,not a personal conflict, encouraging collaboration and empathy

One practical concept is to encourage empathy among team members. In my experience, promoting empathy helped resolve conflicts by fostering understanding and mutual respect. Encourage team members to put themselves in each other's shoes, considering perspectives and emotions. For instance, during a conflict between two team members over project priorities, I encouraged them to empathize with each other's workload and deadlines. This facilitated a more empathetic dialogue, leading to a compromise that satisfied both parties and strengthened their working relationship.

- You can train your team to value diverse perspectives. - Clearly define roles, objectives, and accountability. - Swap roles and tasks time to time so that they value other person's challenges. - Create an external or more significant challenge outside of the team, so the team needs to work together to tackle it.

Team 360-degree 'trust mindset' - asking the right questions , not the same question you asked at all the previous team meetings, look to reframe the questions, in obtaining thorough beliefs on how the team is collectively performing, for example : -What do you most appreciate and value about what you receive from our team? -What do you most appreciate and value about how our team engages with other team members? -What most disappoints you ? -What would you like to see different?