Managing Team Conflict
With so many of us working remotely in a highly stressed world, it is quite likely that we’ll be faced with occasional conflict with the people we work with. And even without the additional stress, most of us aren’t very good at handling it. In my experience, people tend to respond to conflict in one of three ways: (1) pretend it isn’t happening, (2) be the peacemaker and try to defuse it, or (3) keep the conflict going by stirring things up. Depending upon the situation, there’s probably a place for each of these approaches. However, at the risk of oversimplifying team conflict, it might be helpful to think of conflict in two categories: productive and personal.
Productive Conflict. This type of conflict generally occurs when teams are working out ideas and are trying to find the most effective solution to a shared goal. And, conflict naturally occurs when people have concerns and different perspectives. In an environment where diverse ideas are supported, this can be a powerful process in organizations. It can lead to better outcomes and a sense of shared accomplishment, even if not everyone agrees. This type of conflict is generally characterized by feelings of inclusion and support.
Personal Conflict. Unfortunately, all too often, task conflict turns personal. This occurs when team members begin to resent others’ comments or actions and feel that disagreements are a personal attack. This can lead to people undermining each other and may even result in retaliation. This type of conflict may manifest in spreading gossip, ignoring others, and many other destructive actions.
Mindfulness has been shown to reduce destructive conflict and promote productive conflict. Because of this, there has been an increasing interest in a concept called team mindfulness. Team mindfulness is defined as a shared belief among team members where interactions are characterized by an awareness and attention to present events and non-judgmental processing of within-team experiences (Yu & Zellmer-Bruhn, 2018).
When team mindfulness exists, team members intentionally and positively contribute to team discussions, align their actions with the actions of others, and have a shared view of how the team should function (Curtis et al., 2017). Team mindfulness is more than the sum of each team member’s level of mindfulness. It is a way of working that is marked by a focus on the present, attention to operational details, willingness to consider alternative perspectives, and an interest in investigating and understanding failures (Wu & Chen, 2019).
Furthermore, researchers have found that when teams are more mindful, interpersonal conflict is decreased (Yu & Zellmer-Bruhn, 2018). That’s because team members are less likely to transform their frustration with a task into a personal conflict with their colleagues. Mindful team members are able to detach from the task in a way that reduces emotional attachment and feelings of being judged. It also limits the intensity of opposition to an idea and negative emotions which tend to escalate conflict.
Some of the other benefits of team mindfulness are:
Resilience to changes when faced with unexpected events
Promoting a learning environment
Creative problem solving
Strong team relationships
HOW TO PROMOTE TEAM MINDFULNESS
The following are a few simple things that we can do to promote team mindfulness:
Encourage focusing on today’s issues in an open, non-judgmental way. What this looks like is a focus on addressing today’s agenda or issues and leaving bad feelings or prejudices about people and tasks at the virtual door. It is not blaming or talking about previous failures unless those failures inform today’s topic.
Collect information first. Before jumping into problem solving or making decisions, make sure we have gathered the best ideas of the team. This means openly and non-judgmentally listening to others. It’s communicating our ideas with respect for others. It means building on others’ ideas, not tearing down others’ ideas. When we take this approach, we will maximize creativity and allow others to feel a part of the group’s success.
Importance of the team leader. While it is helpful for the whole team to have mindfulness training, research shows that if the team leader has a high level of mindfulness, the entire team will benefit. That’s because when people with higher levels of mindfulness have ongoing interactions with other team members, they model behavior that helps the entire team be more mindful. Leaders set the tone for how the group operates. They can guide interactions and can make sure all are heard and engaged.
Our own research at Levelhead demonstrates that when the leader is more mindful, the entire team is more engaged and mindful. To help you get started in building team mindfulness, we have included two brief exercises below that you might want to try at your next team meeting. Who knows? You might be the one that jump-starts a more mindful and productive approach to your team meetings.
References
Yu, L., and Zellmer-Bruhn, M. (2018). Introducing team mindfulness and considering its safeguard role against conflict transformation and social undermining. Academy of Management Journal, 61, 324–347. doi: 10.5465/amj.2016.0094
Wu, C. M., & Chen, T. J. (2019). Inspiring pro-sociality in hotel workplaces: Roles of authentic leadership, collective mindfulness, and collective thriving. Tourism Management Perspectives, 31, 123-135.