A productive team is a unified team — a team in which all the members are able to cooperate and collaborate, despite whatever personal differences or personality clashes they may have. And to be sure: There’s no such thing as a team that doesn’t experience a little tension every now and again. What matters is that this tension never boils over into full-fledged, productivity-halting conflict.
As a leader, it’s your job to minimize conflict, and to deal with it quickly when it rears its head. How can that be done? The critical first step is simply noting some of the things that tend to make conflict erupt in the first place.
So what causes conflict? The answer can vary a bit from one team to the next, just depending on the personalities represented and the nature of the work environment. With that said, there are a few things that tend to be big, conflict-causing culprits in many workplaces.
Among them:
- Are you clearly conveying expectations to all of your team members — and allowing them the platform they need to communicate their feedback, their questions, and their suggestions for improvement?
- Poorly defined roles. A good leader goes beyond the job description — but nevertheless, it’s helpful when your team members have a clear understanding of their place within the organization…
