“The #1 problem with teams is usually conflict.”
Conflict was the topic that Frieda Loh, psychologist and entrepreneur formerly with the Singapore Ministry of Defense, discussed with the JFDI startups last night at a workshop on team dynamics. This public event was held in conjunction with Social Psychology Singapore. Frieda and Hugh took some time today to reflect on the session in Hugh’s Chief Executive Frog Vlog for Day 14.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3n-DQPSacg
More on how to resolve conflicts in your startup after the stop…
Famed psychologist Dr. Bruce Tuckman proposed perhaps the most useful model for understanding team dynamics. Tuckman theorized that teams go through 5 stages as of growth:
Forming: The team forms and members are generally very polite to each other. They begin to learn about how each other works and plays.
Storming: This is where conflict occurs. Conficts could be caused by personality, difference in opinion, clashing roles, environment, etc.
Norming: Roles are clearer, team members know where they should stand and what they should do.
Performing: The team is very productive with high morale and work efficiency. The team achieves peak performance.
Adjourning: The team disbands.
Conflict is an important part of team growth and progress toward peak performance, even if it doesn’t feel like a positive experience at the time.
How can teams work through conflict in a positive manner and transition to the norming stage?
Here are some suggestions from the crowd:
- Walk out of a heated discussion/conflict and take a 30 minute break. Come back together after that break to resolve the issue in a less emotional state.
- Bring fighting team members to an offsite location to resolve the conflict. Being away from the “pressure chamber” can make it easier for the team members to relate to each other.
- Are you in conflict with someone? Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and try to understand why they have a different perspective from you.
- Take a nap! Apparently, this is common practice in some Japanese firms.
- Under chronic stress? Take a break: organize a team game night or weekend hike. Some JFDI frogs already took this advice and spent an afternoon at Pulau Ubin.
- Go for a 15 minute walk. This can be feasible (and helpful) even when you are under a tight deadline.
There will be cases in which conflict resolution techniques won’t work. One participant shared that of all the examples of conflict the group had mentioned, every break he’s seen in a team has been because of a breakdown in trust.
When you can’t resolve the conflict, what is the last resort? You’ll probably have to place team members in different roles, or remove them from the team altogether.