The 5 Layer Dip of Team Conflict

Sam and Pat, members of a cross-functional team you lead, can’t get through a meeting without critical remarks or outright conflict. It’s exhausting. You’ve tried mediating their disagreement, ignoring it, telling them to take it offline, and asking their managers to get their reports under control -- to no avail.

Their clash is impeding team progress, and the only certainty is that you won’t include them in your next initiative. What are you missing? 

We may prematurely write off gifted employees for their challenging behaviors or unknowingly spin our wheels addressing the “wrong” layer of a team conflict. Training team members on feedback and constructive dialogue is valuable, but if the true problem is with a different ingredient in the “team conflict recipe”, your efforts won’t have the needed impact. 

Sadly, you may even conclude you’re not adept in certain leadership competencies, when perhaps you’re just focusing on the wrong source of Sam and Pat’s struggle.

Drawing from a Gestalt-based OD framework, let’s take a fresh look at what could be driving the team tension, using the metaphor of a 5 Layer Dip.

5 LAYER DIP: that delicious mixture of beans, cheese, tomatoes, guacamole and sour cream that you swipe onto a chip, transforming it from “that’s crunchy” to “that’s divine!” Like a high performing team, the magic is brought about by the unique combination of layers. Just beans or tomatoes by themselves would be far less transformative, after all.

As on a high-performing team, each element is essential to the whole. Without beans, the dip would lack substance; without tomatoes, the dip lacks lightness and freshness. As the chef, if the dip is “off”, it’s important to discern which layer actually needs adjusting. Do the beans need more spices, or tomatoes more salt? More lemon in the guac? 

A well-placed adjustment in one layer will nicely impact the dip as a whole. Conversely, by failing to diagnose the true problem - or addressing only the layer you’re most familiar with as a leader – you may not fix the issue at all.

Applying this metaphor to your business teams, the key recipe ingredients we’ll consider are the Individuals, Relationships, Subgroups, the Team Itself and the Organization. These 5 Levels are operating at all times, impacting every team interaction whether you notice their influence or not.

The 5 Levels of Organizational Systems Affecting Your Team

Recalling Sam and Pat, who can’t cease criticizing and arguing, what’s impossible to ignore is the palpable tension at the level of RELATIONSHIP. You’ve recently narrowed the conflict down to the fact that these two don’t trust each other. That’s terrific, because now you can target your coaching - or ultimatums? - to be most helpful! Right??

Maybe. If the core issue is they’ve worked together unsatisfactorily for 3 years and have accumulated resentments over time – making it hard to hear, believe or collaborate with each other today – your idea could be very helpful. You’d be addressing the appropriate layer in the system – the Relationship Level – like adding spice to the lackluster beans.

However, the source of the "lack of trust" issue in their working partnership may actually be found at one (or more) different layers in the team conflict recipe. Here are some forces that could impact trust between Sam and Pat at five distinct Organizational “Levels of System”:

#1: INDIVIDUAL (or Intrapersonal) Level

How easy or difficult is it for Sam (or Pat) to trust people, in general? (What about yourself, since “lack of trust” was your own diagnosis/interpretation?) Once broken, how can trust be regained with that individual? Which key behaviors erode trust for one person, but don’t actually worry others on the same team?

• Each individual on your team (including yourself) behaves based on what makes sense given your unique internal worlds. Internal elements such as Feelings, Emotions, Values, Beliefs, Assumptions, Needs, Motives and Intentions provide energy and motivation for outward behaviors. These INDIVIDUAL elements are also influenced by all the other layers, including the …

#2: RELATIONSHIP (or Interpersonal) Level

What’s the degree or history of trust between these two people? Have they tried to repair it in the past? What’s the ghost of past conversations or collaborations on their ability to trust one another today? What positive past paired experiences could they draw upon to rebuild the trust they once had?           

•  Relationships can be observed in terms of closeness/distance, trust, respect, affiliation, influence, shared history, time together, etc. A team is made stronger via healthy working RELATIONSHIPS among its members. Relationships are influenced by the layer below (individuals), and also by the …

#3: SUBGROUP (or Subset) Level

What subsets or subgroups do these individuals belong to, and how is the trust between those two (or more) subgroups? Pat/Sam might represent marketing/sales, or managers/reports, or Republicans/Democrats, or old hires/new hires, etc., leading to a lack of trust (driven perhaps by innocent misunderstandings) regarding the other’s explanations, priorities and requests.

• Subgroups naturally have unique experiences, expectations, needs, priorities and mental models that may require effort to bridge. Individuals advocating for these differences are sometimes vocalizing their SUBGROUP’s concerns, even if it looks or feels more ‘personal’. Subgroup memberships impact all the layers below and above. 

#4: TEAM (or Group) Level

What behavioral norms, patterns or habits regularly occur on this team that build or erode trust for the team as a whole? Do people follow through on their commitments? If not, are they held accountable? Are mistakes treated with compassion and a drive to learn? Or with contempt and finger-pointing? Are rewards and resources doled out in a way that feels fair and builds trust among members? Is the team aligned around goals and deliverables, leading to a sense of trust that all are working towards the same collective end?

• TEAM norms impact how individuals (Level 1) on the team think about and behave towards one another (Level 2), and also how members of subgroups (Level 3) interact – but it’s not always about them as individuals. They could be the ‘messengers’ illustrating your team’s invisible operating agreements in a visible way. (Remember: don’t kill the messengers!). And of course, the health and productivity of teams will impact your …

#5: ORGANIZATION (or System) Level

What events in the past, present or future could impact employee trust right now? Rumors of cutbacks or an acquisition? Another reorganization or management change? Competing VP’s who knowingly or unknowingly spread mistrust within their silos towards other functions in the firm? Lack of congruence between stated company values and visible leadership behaviors?

• Anything happening at the ORGANIZATION level will impact attitudes and behaviors in all of the layers below. After all, it’s the ‘container’ people function inside every day. The organization is naturally impacted by all the layers below, as well.

With this more complete view of the entire recipe creating a conflict or potential lack of trust, we see why focusing your energy, impatience and frustration on the most obvious level of Sam and Pat’s troubled RELATIONSHIP might omit key ingredients of an effective long-term resolution.

By opening your thinking more broadly, you can access more compassion, curiosity and creativity to uncover a comprehensive menu of plausible interventions.

Future articles will delve more deeply into - and suggest intervention options for - each of these 5 Levels of System in your Organization. For now, I invite you to try an experiment.

Identify a behavior pattern which feels stuck or problematic on one of your teams, and brainstorm three potential reasonable explanations – possibilities that elicit your empathy and respect – to explain the behavior at Individual, Relationship, Subgroup, Team and Organization Levels. 

Then, armed with inquiry and a more open mind, dialogue with your team member(s) about what adjustments to the recipe might get you back on track and moving ahead.

(Following this article is a resource list of additional factors to consider at each Level)

Jana Basili helps leaders, business partners and business teams adjust their individual, relationship, subgroup, team and organization "recipes" for enhanced business results, career and life satisfaction. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she holds a Master Coaching Credential with the International Coach Federation. 

Jana may be contacted via LinkedIn or at Jana@LearningWithExperience.com regarding your leadership and team needs -- or if you have a great recipe for margaritas and Five Layer Dip.

LIST OF POTENTIAL INFLUENCES AT EACH LEVEL OF SYSTEM

Consider how any individual or team behavior may be influenced at each of the FIVE LEVELS OF ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS. Feel free to include elements not found on the list.

#1 – INDIVIDUAL OR INTRAPERSONAL LEVEL

• INVISIBLE: Emotions, feelings, triggers, values, expectations, hopes, dreams, intentions, beliefs, life experiences, assumptions, interpretations
• VISIBLE: Words spoken, accent, behaviors, gestures, body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, volume, speed of speech, attire

#2 – RELATIONSHIP LEVEL

• INVISIBLE: The emotional tone or “bank account” of the relationship, closeness/distance, trust, length and history of relationship over time
• VISIBLE: How do the individuals speak to each other, do they sit near or far away, do they socialize, demonstrate care or respect, etc.

#3 – SUBSET / SUBGROUP LEVEL

VISIBLE and INVISIBLE Subgroup Memberships include:

• Personal Demographics: Gender, Age, Marital status, Parental status, Body size, Skin color, Physical ability, Country of Origin, Race, Ethnicity, Sexual Identity, Education, Political beliefs, Religion, Cognitive abilities, present-day Social Class, Social Class background, Personality characteristics (extrovert/introvert, formal/informal, …), Psychometric categories (Enneagram type, MBTI, …), etc.
• Organizational subgroups such as roles, power/authority, functions, length of employment, hiring and promotion path, access to leadership, etc.

(*Caution: Both visible and invisible demographics are easy to misattribute)

#4 – TEAM OR GROUP LEVEL

• VISIBLE and INVISIBLE Operating Norms include Psychological Safety, Feedback, Approaches to conflict, Time management, Accountability, Alignment, Decision processes, Communication, Language, Trust, Camaraderie, Resource allocation, Airtime distribution, Influence distribution, Leadership distribution, Treatment of difference and diversity, Clarity of roles/ responsibilities/ vision/ purpose, etc. 

#5 – ORGANIZATION OR SYSTEM LEVEL

• Everything happening within -- and communicated by -- the leadership and the organization as a whole.  The System Level can also include influences outside the organization such as consumers, competition, political climate, natural disasters, financial markets, social trends, etc. 

If you're experiencing a problematic team behavior that you'd like Jana to illustrate using the model of Five Levels of Organizational Systems, feel free to submit it for consideration as a future article subject. Jana Basili can be reached at Jana@LearningWithExperience.com or via LinkedIn.