What are the common causes of team conflict? How do we resolve team conflict?

Everyone is different, some people will get on better with certain individuals than others, it just depends on dynamics.

This can be a positive thing; because everyone thinks differently, valuing and utilizing people’s differences can make your team more productive and creative.

However, because a workplace will inevitably bring together people from different backgrounds, genders, political and religious beliefs, conflicts can arise if individuals have conflicting values.

Part of addressing these conflicts is ensuring you and your team are aware of your differences and accepting of diversity.

It can be difficult when we come across colleagues who’s way of operating asks us to go against our own values and beliefs, but by being open-minded, empathetic, curious and respectful in conversations with others when differences arise, we can prevent conflict from escalating and damaging working relationships.

As well as the people it’s important to consider the work environment itself.

Ask yourself-is the environment conducive to team work or is it contributing to conflict? A good example of this is often parking. If more people need to park than there are spaces for, this can inevitably cause conflict.

It might not always be feasible to implement a solution as extreme as moving premises, but resolving conflict around sharing limited resources could be as easy as implementing a rota ensuring everyone gets their fair share.

Simply listening to your team and providing any extra resources they feel are lacking or extra touches to increase their comfort (for example plentiful stocks of tea and coffee or some potted plants) can reduce conflict by creating a more pleasant work environment.

We’re all human and sometimes people will react to difficult situations with an instinctive ‘fight or flight’ response.

For example, criticism can cause people to act defensively in the heat of the moment, as they calm down they will probably realise the feedback was intended to be helpful.

Everybody has different ‘trigger points’. For example many people do not want to be regarded as lazy and any implication that they might be so can cause a reaction.

Bad experiences in someone’s life or career can influence the way they react. Being treated badly by a previous manager can make people sensitive to treatment they perceive as unfair.

Addressing issues promptly, is often the best way to handle this kind of conflict. It’s sometimes possible to diffuse a situation in the moment by calmly explaining your perspective.

Often, people avoid difficult situations, as they don’t want to cause such conflict, but if ongoing tension is left unresolved it can fester and lead to an even worse conflict, sometimes it’s best to face a situation and work through the conflict sooner.

Sometimes personal problems will inevitably impact our performance at work. If others are unaware of a person’s situation, this can cause conflict if the person ‘snaps’ and behaves rudely or inappropriately, seemingly without cause.

It’s not always obvious what’s going on in people’s lives, remember everybody is allowed to have a ‘bad day’ and the reason behind conflict may not be clear cut.

Everybody on your team is human and will occasionally be angry or sad. Showing understanding can go a long way in diffusing situations.

If your company’s policies and values are non-existent, or not understood, this can be a recipe for conflict over the way things are done if nobody is clear.

A lack of understanding of policies can look unprofessional. If one person tells a customer one thing and somebody else tells them another, this could cause external conflict if the client becomes angry at their treatment.

An easy way to combat this is developing a consistent approach to how you will handle your customers and suppliers which the whole team is made aware of.

Similarly, ensure your team all know and understand the company rules and policies.

Apparent non-compliance is a common cause of conflict, but your team can’t be expected to guess the rules! People may also be reluctant to abide by rules they view as unnecessary. Being clear about why rules are in place, can diffuse conflict surrounding them.

Ask yourself:

•  Do my team members know our organisation’s goals?- If not, without clarity they’ve probably set up their own goals which could conflict with others.
• Do my team members know what our values are?- If people know what values they are striving for they are more likely to be motivated to work to achieve them.
• How is what I’m doing, working towards the goals we’ve set? Am I reflecting the values of the company? – If you demonstrate that you are willing to abide by the same values, you set an example to your team.

Poor communication is a big cause of conflict because it can mean team members aren’t working towards the same goal.

The best way to reduce misunderstandings is to listen! Taking interest in your team, picking up on body language and showing a willingness to collaborate can work wonders for resolving conflicts.

Keeping a record of communications can be useful when dealing with frequent miscommunications, helping you identify where misunderstandings might be arising.

Creating a ‘team charter’, a kind of pre-agreement between all team-members, helps clarify the dos and don’ts of workplace behavior and sets out a clear plan for how to communicate going forward.

Healthy competition can be a good motivator, but sometimes it can lead to conflict.

Because everyone requires a share of resources, for example office space, supplies, their boss’s time, or funding, to complete their jobs, if resources are scarce and not being shared fairly, conflict can occur.

People will also inevitably compete for recognition and promotions which can create tensions.

Even as managers we are not immune to this, and can start to see our team as competitors. A good way to combat this is to be aware of your competitive streak and try to shift your mindset. When you find yourself competing with others, try competing with yourself instead!

Ask yourself:

• Are we developing sub-groups in the team that will become competitive?
• Is my team working to the same ends as other teams in the organisation as a whole?

We’re all different, individuals approach people and problems differently. This can lead to conflict if two people’s style of doing things are opposing, for example, one person works best in a structured environment while another worker works best in an unstructured environment.

A good way to resolve working style conflict is to ensure your team knows and understands both their own working style and that of others and how to work with conflicting styles. An easy way to discover and explore working styles is to take an online personality test, such as the Myers-Briggs test which includes a section on how different personality types work best.

Using performance reviews and client feedback is a good way to tell whether everyone is working together smoothly and identify where problems might be arising.