S1 E5: Why Workplace Conflict is Healthy for Your Organisation
Get ready to challenge everything you thought you knew about conflict in the workplace! In this episode, we'll be exploring the surprising benefits of conflict and why it can actually be a good thing for your team.
From understanding the different types of conflict and how to manage them, to building a culture of healthy debate and constructive criticism, we'll explore the many ways in which conflict can be harnessed for good and help your team achieve its full potential.
Join us for a fascinating conversation on the unexpected benefits of conflict in the workplace, and discover how you can turn conflict into a powerful tool for growth and success. Whether you're a team leader, a member, or simply interested in unlocking the full potential of your team, this episode is not to be missed!
Get ready to challenge your assumptions and embrace the power of conflict with our latest podcast episode. It's time to turn conflict from a problem into an opportunity!
Topics discussed in today's episode:
Introduction to this episode.
What is workplace conflict and how can it be avoided?
The secret to brilliant teams and team effectiveness may be stirring up conflict.
The survival technique of collective action and why it’s so important.
What is conflict? What does it mean?
It’s not about behaviours, it’s about how people start to show up in a team.
The five psychological roles that need to be filled in a team to function properly.
The importance of having a good Pragmatist.
What are derailleurs? What are they?
The Hogan Team Report .
Resource Links:
Buy your DISC Assessment here.
Buy my “Leading Highly Engaged Remote Teams” course here
Here are the links to the major listening platforms. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review! Happy listening!
SHOW NOTES:
S1 EP05 Why Workplace Conflict is Healthy For Your Organisation
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
team, people, roles, conflict, work, real, results, create, team members, hogan, innovator, relationship, individual, functional roles, productive, problems, personality, psychological, power, understand
You're listening to knowing me, knowing you, the podcast that explores the art and science of creating, developing and retaining brilliant teams. I'm your host, Emma Clayton. Join me weekly for practical advice, simple steps, and inspirational ideas as we discuss topics that make a difference to leaders and their teams. I'll be sharing all the tools and having conversations that help you to build and sustain by performing. Welcome to the knowing me knowing you. Hello, and welcome to another week of knowing me knowing you. I am your host, Emma Clayton.
This week, I want to talk to you about conflict; the C word is the conflicts nobody wants and everybody wants to avoid. But what if I said to you that conflict is absolutely essential and critical to your team's and your organisation's success? You probably think I'm barking mad, but that's what this episode will be about today. How do we see conflict as an opportunity for growth and improvement for the people around us?
Because although we tend to emphasise the importance of harmony, and many of us don't like conflict, we bury our heads in the sand and move away from conflict; the real secret to team effectiveness is stirring up conflict. The economist reported that companies are starting to abandon functional silos. And they're organising their employees into these cross-functional cross-disciplinary teams where they don't focus in a particular area like, you know, finance or marketing or sales, what they do is they take cross-functional individuals teams and focus on a product launch or problems or customers, and making them a lot more agile. And these teams are then given the power to run their projects. And they're spending much more time working with each other than reporting to, you know, their sector manager, their finance manager, or their marketing manager. And on the surface, that is an excellent idea.
Because high-performing teams, without a doubt, can provide this undeniable advantage over the competition. I've already talked about that in previous episodes. And definitely, some of the most forward-thinking companies in the world rely on these smaller teams, project teams, and agile teams to drive new ideas and make these giant leaps ahead in product design, customer service design, and all of these things. And Google and Apple are well known for running these kinds of teams. So what is the problem with these teams? One of the critical assumptions many people make about team performance is that it depends on those team members getting along.
But what if that needs to be corrected? Because some conflict is absolutely critical to Team functioning. And it's not to say that, you know, we need to go into meetings and, you know, punch each other up or, you know, have, you know, toxic conflict for conflict's sake. Because, you know, not all conflict is good. And too much conflict does create problems. There's a natural balance in how we achieve this conflict. Because, I mean, I think about the teams I've been in, I'm sure you can think about the teams you've been in where, you know, there's this real jostle for position, and people talk over each other, and they don't listen. And other people are careful not to make mistakes; they don't say anything.
And we go back to the psychological safety we discussed in a previous episode. And, I was in a meeting only last week where I was asked to lead on something, and there was somebody, a newly promoted person, in the room, and I couldn't get a word in edgeways. This is me. There were talks forever, I couldn't get a word in, and there were lots of invisible, sharp elbows around that table, and there was no curiosity, no attempt for collaboration. And whilst there wasn't any infighting, there was some jockeying for power and control. And, you know, it doesn't. It does drop morale even though I, as an experienced person, sat in the room, and my morale dropped time experienced. So we've got to think about those people who need to be more experienced.
And what we can see is that team members can peel off and pursue their agendas and, you know, look after their career and think that they know it all without really being curious about the people and the issues around them before coming to solutions. And these are really common problems, especially in corporate teams.
So, how can you foster productive conflict while stamping out unpredicted conflict? And that is by paying attention to how the personalities in the room shape the team. You know, what are the bright sides that they bring in? What are their derailleurs when their, you know, strengths are overplayed? Or they, you know, having a bad day or stressed or tired or something's gone wrong? What do you know, what are the bad habits that show up and the bad derailleurs, as they call them? You know, and what's the impact on that team culture?
And one of the main problems with teams is how they're typically formed. And you know, that you go on Amazon, and there's so much written about, you know, how to quit high functioning teams, you know, most of which looks at the real proper mix of the functional roles. And a little bit as I talked about, in part one of the, you know, what creates a high-performing brilliant team earlier on in their theories, you know, we will look at performance, and those functional roles, which are dictated by an experience and your title and the position and the role that you do.
But many leaders are, you know, purely recruiting on these functional skills and treating them as a real asset to the business. But what it then does it mean that we are, you know, we're recruiting people like us, and that kills diversity. And it also breeds this sort of group thing, consensus thing. And, you know, we get this professional arrogance that comes up of, you know, this is our expertise, and we know better than anybody else. And alternatively, you know, it's just assembling the brightest people. Again, I've worked with clients that have got incredibly talented people, such talented people clever people, but they could be better leaders and better team players because those tactics need to be fixed. And research is starting to highlight now that the dynamics of these interpersonal relationships, the powerful skills, or the soft skills, as other people might call them, really depend on, you know, an individual's personality. It's not about their hard skills or their expertise; it's, you know, it's about we know who they are, how can they navigate, you know, the dynamics of themselves and other people, which is, you know, the whole reason that this podcast is called knowing me knowing you because it's about giving you those skills, those genuine relationships, interpersonal skills, and understanding ourselves and others better because you can put a world-class talent together on a team, and it may still fail to perform, because it's, you know, not going to be that cohesive.
And the only way to create a team worth more than the sum of its parts. It is to select members of that team based on personality. And that takes me to the roles we play in teams. And the first is, as I say, those functional roles, determined by, you know, your title, your pay, your experience, so you need to be a chief financial officer or chief marketing officer, you could be an accountant, you could be an administrative assistant. But the most critical role in my experience is the psychological role, which is those where people naturally gravitate to these people who are repelled based on their personalities. And when individuals are formed into a team with, you know, this kind of designated tasks, there is always that awkward phase in which you see everybody searching for where they fit in, in the team. I still do this, and I'm curious about watching this unfold before me, but we all want to see our psychological role in a team.
And I'm a Hogan certified practitioner, and according to Hogan principles, I love how they break this down. They say there are five psychological roles to which people will not Truly gravitate, and I don't mean gravitating to someone else like it. But I suggest that you fit in. So finding a team or what your role will be one of these five things, and it can vary depending on who else is in the room. So the fastest results, I'll explain in more detail the fastest outcomes. The second is relationships. The third is a process. The fourth is innovation. And the fifth is pragmatism. And what Hogan says, and I see this in practice, is that for a team to function correctly, those psychological roles must be balanced and equally represented. So it would help if you had enough diversity in that team, that each of those roles, those five roles are filled, which sounds simple, but when you have people who are naturally attracted to those that are like ourselves, it means that a lot of cell form teams are going to be homogenous, and you know, all the same.
But second, there have to be enough people in each of the roles to provide critical mass. So, only one person can fill up to one part. So there have to be enough people to get the job done. And when the psychological roles are correctly balanced, then you get this natural push and pull between the different parts that create this healthy conflict that can help that team Elevate and function way more effectively than if we've got this homogenous, super talented, everybody's the same, everybody's fighting for the same role in the team, it's much better to have a balance. Because too many results-oriented team members can result in infighting and competition, they all want the leadership role, they all want to be in control, and they all want to take the lead; that is where you know, we get real issues in the results. So you can only have up to one person, the team leader driving the results anymore, and your team will fall over.
The second is the role of the relationship. And that is the natural counter to the results role. Because of the results, people tend to be blunt and push hard. They want success and achievement, whereas people in the relationship role are way more concerned with maintaining, you know, harmony and Concord and cooperation within that team. And in my opinion, when we look at, you know, the performance and the cultural aspects of a high-performing team, if we go back to previous episodes, in my opinion, the relationship-oriented team members are possibly more important, because they maintain the harmony in the group. They make sure to nurture, for all of the best to come out in that team, go back to the meeting room that I was in last week, it is a real results driver in that room.
And whilst I am all about results and outcomes, especially when you're self-employed, and you're working with clients, and they're paying you for results, actually my natural role. Now the more mature I get, whether that's emotionally or age, I'll leave that for you to decide, but you know, more rounded as a grown-up, I tend to be more relationship based because I like to lead from behind and be more supportive to the other people around me. And it's essential to bring out that cultural side of the team, and these relationship-oriented team members are the people that do that. This doesn't have to be, by the way, you know, teams in business or the office, this can be friendships, this can be family, this can be, you know, friendships, or it can be anything, you know, it could be the knitting club down the road, you will find this in all sorts of different teams of people. So, whilst we're getting on with the performance, we, you know, we need to be able to balance out the culture, the experience, the environment, and that are why relationship and results people, you know, will work effectively together because there will be this tension and this conflict between them in their approach.
And no matter how talented your team members are, it will do you little good if you cannot work together. Team Performance depends on having a clear mission, a sense of purpose and the right people to deliver it. So you know, think about who's taking the results and relationship roles. Then you have the inner action, roll. These are big-picture thinkers, and they are good at spotting trends and patterns, they solve problems, and they generate creative solutions. They anticipate, you know, things that are coming down the line. And then they recognise when the team needs to change course, or, you know, refine the strategy or manage resources, they are naturally big picture thinkers. And we all need that because we can get bogged down in the detail that we forget what we're doing and why we're doing it. And also, these people are responsive to market trends and client needs. So, you know, the majority of us that are in business in these teams, we need these innovation roles because we have to innovate, to be ahead of the game and to beat the competition and survive and navigate this uncertain, volatile world that we're living in at the moment.
So definitely find an innovator in your team, and then you have those who naturally focus on the process. Now they're the opposite of the innovator. Because they're concerned with implementation, the details, the minutiae, the process, the systems, how the task is completed, very tactically minded, you know, and they're reliable and organised. And they're conscientious. They are all about the rules or the protocol. And without enough people in the process, you will lack self-discipline. But that person who is all about process irritates the hell out of the innovator who is the picture creative. Don't worry about the details. Don't worry about all of the rules and the hair to break them because we're going to go out, and we're going to change the world. And there's this tension here between these two as well because the process pass, and we'll be looking at the big picture person knowing you're crazy, you're going to do this the right way.
And you're going to do it systematically, and we've got roles to follow. So you have this dynamic tension between the innovator and the process. And, you know, if you do have too many people in that process role, I've seen this; I used to work in pharmaceuticals, lots of process, lots of governance, you know, those teams can become rigid, and they lack the agility that they need to overcome the obstacles as they encounter them, they almost have this paralysis and this freeze when they come to challenges because well, the rulebook doesn't say this, I can't follow it. And the innovator will be, you know, the one that says, right, here's a problem, I'm going to solve it, and they, you know, bust through the obstacles in the way, so you do need both. On top of that, you also need an excellent pragma test, which is a practical challenge, and ideas and theories are a bit more hard-headed. Still, they're not, you know, super aggressive and results-focused, like perhaps the results, pass them morbid, and they're down to earth and realistic and possibly not swayed either way, by results or harmony, they do the right thing. And you know, innovating for innovating. They can also really annoy them, you know, it's about doing the right thing for the right reasons and ensuring that everything is as it should be.
And so without enough of these individuals, the teams will spend loads of time either pursuing excellent ideas and the innovator or spending much more time in the detail and proving impossible to implement. Too many of these people also can not be good because otherwise, the team becomes too critical, analytical, and closed-minded to allow new ideas to develop. So you can see a team with the right people balance in results and relationships innovation process. And then pragmatism ensures its diversity of viewpoints, big picture, little picture, people task, the right thing balancing, you know, that promotes this wonderful, productive conflict. That's critical. So they're not fighting. And you know, real toxic jostling and elbows are sharpening around the table.
What they're doing is they've got this lovely, healthy, wonderful tension between the way they approach, and so when we have all of this in a melting pot in a team, you can only be successful now, obviously, with the conflict and the challenge. You've got to be able to approach that in a very productive, positive way. And you've got to have rules around how you do that. And we'll talk about that in future episodes, but the theory of What we're trying to do, hopefully, has landed. Now, I will say that the Hogan is a wonderful tool; there are so many different things, the science of this personality metric of all the bright sides that an individual will bring. And then the dark side is sort of the de whalers or the things that overextended or under stress come out. And then you also have, you know, what's driving those behaviours with the motives and values. And you can do these reports on your team. So you can see individually how people are showing up, but actually, you can start to look at how you can get this real, mixed and diverse in your team. Now, it is also worth looking at; you've got this wonderful team, very highly, you know, diverse, beautifully works together, healthy conflict, but, if balancing the psychological roles helps you foster this positive, productive conflict in your team, you need to understand the derailleurs that are shared, because not every day is going to be a blue sky day, not every day is going to be a sunshine day, we've got to understand how conflict is likely to play out. So I just said a second ago, you've got to have this healthy way of working and optimistic and productive way of challenge. And there will be times when conflict doesn't play out the way it should. And people can get irritated, things can get overextended, and your strengths become your weaknesses.
And so you've got to be able to help and spot when your team has these behaviours that are derailleurs. And these are traits that, under normal circumstances, would be strengths clearly result driven, very ambitious, competitive, and outgoing. Still, you know, under stress, they can strain a relationship and cause damaging rifts between people. And that can hinder team performance. And you've probably been in teams or seen this, you know, people are brilliant at what they do, but it's just too much sometimes.
And it can tip the balance. And if too many members of the team share similar derailleurs, then they can become team directors. So you hear that that falls into three categories that you've either got distancing derailleurs, which, you know, helps people manage their anxiety and pressure. And if they, you know, they withdraw. You've got agitating derailleurs, where you manage situations by controlling and manipulating others. And then you've got these acquiescing derails, which is about how people then manage the stress and anxiety by getting closer to others by building alliances. You see these in a water cooler chat start to happen, where people, you know, siding and building their alliances, so that if there's any more toxic behaviour, they know that they've got comrades in action, that is not good either. For having those healthy, open, transparent relationships in the room where you've got equality when you start building alliances, you're building power and leaving other people out, creating greater vulnerability. So you've got this imbalance of power. Now, balancing these roles helps facilitate productive conflict. Then you understand your group derailers and how to prevent destructive conflict, then really understanding your team culture makes functioning through the conflict possible. And so this is looking at core motives and values that affect every aspect of lives, from how they are rewarded to their behaviour. And generally, these shared values are also critical because great conflict and many significant conflicts sit on top of these values. And naturally, they are categorised into three pockets, but buckets if you like. The first is coherence. So having common values helps your team bond and makes teamwork easier and more enjoyable. And conflict tends to be much more productive in teams with shared values.
They are focusing more on, you know, the substantive or technical professional differences. Then you've got the second is greater efficiency. So team members are on the same page concerning tasks and situations. They understand each other's needs. They trust one another way more than individuals and teams without shared values. And then the third is stability. So they're shared values, they increase the individual's commitment to the team and his power Pass, increasing team motivation. And actually, the real benefit is it reduces turnover because members who stay longer in the team are more likely to engage in activities and make decisions that benefit the group over selfish, ego-based individual objectives or games. And so you start to see people enjoying, I'm not wanting to leave the team and say, there is loads of research out there that says that, you know, salary doesn't necessarily turn heads anymore, what turns heads is the teams that they work in and the culture that they're operating in. Because, you know, it's really lovely to have the money and we've all got bills to pay. But our enjoyment and our happiness at work come from this. And a pleased workforce is also proven to create a very happy bottom line in the company. So while we're going through this recession, things feel financially difficult. We're thinking about changing some of the items in our team and changing dynamics, you know, this is the stuff to double down on, how can you create a brilliant team that is aligned, that gets on that allows retention, and happiness, because that is what is going to get you through the recession. I know that that sounds trite.
But it's proven in the research that, you know, really understanding the team individuals the team together, and creating this great place to work does create a thriving business, or group or organisation or charity, or public sector, whoever, wherever but you know, it does make this blend of just brilliance. So I've mentioned the Hogan team report a few times now. And this report helps team members understand how their personality, strengths, weaknesses and values operate and how it also impacts their and their team's performance. It is so powerful; it is one of the best assessments I've come across throughout my career.
Because it combines all of this science, it's all statistically based and statistically significant. And it helps you create these dynamics as you've probably never been able to do before. It will highlight your team's strengths and weaknesses. It will identify your team members' psychological roles that we've discussed; it will display the spread of the team that plays each of those roles we discussed. And it will also highlight potential gaps. You can discover those roles, what you're missing, where you're doubling up, and where you shouldn't be. It also gives you those simple fracture lines. So those risks and challenges to performance, the derailleurs that come out during times of stress, pressure, and the things that can derail the team and interfere with their goals and relationships. And, you guessed it also identifies the shared values, what that team are working towards, what they're willing to work for, and how they will more than likely contribute to the team culture—potent stuff. Because achieving and remembering the right mix of psychological roles, Team derailleurs. And culture is the key, the secret to fostering productive conflict and creating an effective team and a happy, satisfied, motivated, and committed workforce. If you want to know more about that Hogan team report, get in touch or go to www dot brilliant teams.org forward slash store. I hope that that has helped you embrace conflict. Wherever you are, wherever you work, and in the teams and the families and friendships you have. We all need a little bit of conflict for now.
I'm going to leave you there. I'll see you at the next one. But no, this next week, Stay Brilliant. So you say. You have been listening to knowing me knowing you. If you would like to take your personality or team assessment, go to brilliant teams.org forward slash store and let's get you knowing you knowing them. Tell your friends about us and share the podcast with colleagues. But most importantly, come and listen to us again next week. See you soon.
Stay brilliant!
Buy your DISC Assessment here.
Buy my “Leading Highly Engaged Remote Teams” course here