by Aarti Bhatt | Sep 12, 2022 | Agile Coaching
What is team conflict?
Conflict within a team can be defined as any disagreement or disagreement between team members that have the potential to affect performance negatively. Team conflicts typically arise when team members have different goals, values, or ideas about how they should do something. While some level of conflict is inevitable in any team, resolving conflict effectively minimizes its negative impact on high performance.
I am sure we have all faced workplace conflict and what’s important is – how we manage them. Clashes take place in all environments, be they personal or professional. Here we will investigate how we can resolve conflicts professionally when working in teams.
Conflicts are not always threats
Many of us tend to perceive conflicts as threats. The most crucial fact that we must understand is that disputes will occur, and we need to normalize them. It is OK to have conflicts. Some level of effort is required to address conflicts in the best way possible without worsening the situation.
Another big question is, “Who resolves the team conflict?” Is a specific team member who serves as a mediator and assists in its resolution? The answer is that no single person is solely responsible for resolving team conflict. The entire team should collaboratively come together to help manage conflict.
The scrum master, however, plays a crucial role in an agile team by coaching and mentoring the teams and employing simple conflict resolution skills & techniques. They are the scrum processes’ guardians and ensure the team adheres to them. If the teams can identify the conflict’s origin, they usually try to resolve it amongst themselves; however, if they fail to settle under the supervision of the Scrum Master if the conflict intensifies and becomes an impediment for the team.
The impact of team conflict on team performance
Team conflicts can negatively impact team performance, including decreased productivity, decreased team morale, and increased team turnover. Additionally, team conflict can lead to communication problems and a lack of interpersonal conflict resolution within the team. While some level of conflict is inevitable in any team, managing conflict effectively to minimize its negative impact is essential.
There are several things that team members can do to improve performance. One of the most important things is to develop effective conflict management strategies. These can help team members resolve conflict more effectively, which can, in turn, help improve team collaboration. Additionally, developing practical conflict management skills can also help team members to avoid some of the negative impacts of team conflict, such as decreased productivity and decreased team morale.
Developing practical conflict management skills
Team members can use several effective conflict management strategies to reduce the negative impact of team conflict on performance.
Some effective conflict management strategies include:
Encouraging open communication
Effective communication is essential for managing team conflict effectively. Team members should feel comfortable communicating with each other about their differences and should be encouraged to do so respectfully and constructively.
Establishing team ground rules
Ground rules can help team members in resolving team conflict by providing guidelines for how to disagree with each other and work through differences respectfully. Ground rules should be established at the beginning of a team project and revisited as needed to manage future conflict.
Practicing active listening
Without interrupting or passing judgment, active listening entails paying attention to what the other person is saying. It also means trying to understand their perspective and their own feelings and responding in a way that shows you have heard and empathized with them. Active listening takes practice which comes often with experience such as taking nonverbal cues, but listening skills can be a helpful tool for managing conflict within a team.
- Mutual respect: Showing a positive attitude and respect for each other’s opinions and ideas, even if you disagree.
- Flexibility: Being willing to compromise and find solutions that work for everyone involved.
Emotional intelligence is a crucial skill
When it comes to managing conflict within a team, emotional intelligence is a crucial skill. Individuals with high emotional intelligence can effectively manage their own emotions, as well as understand and respond to the feelings of others. This can be extremely helpful in diffusing tense situations and resolving conflict.
There are a few specific strategies that those with high emotional intelligence typically use when managing conflict. First, they can see both sides of the issue and understand all points of view. They are also good at active listening, which involves hearing what the other person is saying and trying to understand their perspective. Finally, they can compromise and find solutions that satisfy everyone involved.
Identifying areas of agreement
When team members focus on areas where they agree, they are more likely to find creative solutions to their differences and avoid workplace and relationship conflicts within the team.
One of the necessities for effective conflict management is problem-solving. Problem-solving involves finding a way to address the underlying issues causing the conflict. It may require creative thinking and outside-the-box solutions. Once the root cause of the conflict is identified, it can be much easier to find a resolution that everyone can agree on.
Brainstorming solutions
Brainstorming can be a helpful way for team members to generate creative solutions to their differences. When team members brainstorm together, they can build on each other’s ideas and come up with solutions they may not have thought of on their own.
Using these effective conflict management strategies, team members can reduce the negative impact of team conflict on performance and improve overall team functioning.
Body language for effective communication
Body language and facial expressions are the nonverbal communication cues to convey feelings and emotions and resolve conflict. When team members conflict, body language can defuse the situation and help the team come to a resolution.
Some of the best solutions for using body language to manage conflict include:
- Make eye contact: Eye contact is a powerful way to show that you are engaged in the conversation and interested in what the other person says.
- Avoid crossing your arms: Crossing your arms can be seen as a defensive gesture and may make the other person feel like you are not open to hearing their perspective.
- Lean in: Leaning in shows that you are invested in the conversation and want to hear what the other person says.
– Use open body language: Open body language, such as keeping your arms uncrossed and facing the other person, conveys that you are approachable and receptive to hearing their viewpoints.
Using body language effectively can help team members pick up to resolve conflict and improve team performance. Attention to body language cues can help you better understand the other person’s perspective and find common ground. When conflict arises, take a step back and assess the situation before responding. By using body language to manage conflict, you can improve communication and constructively resolve disagreements.
Conflict management templates
Conflict management templates can be a valuable tool for team leaders and members in resolving disagreements. By having a set structure in place, team members can more effectively communicate with each other and come to a resolution. Templates can also help prevent conflict by establishing ground rules for how team members should interact with each other. While conflict is inevitable, using templates can help reduce its negative impact on team performance.
Ability to make decisions
When there is conflict within a team, decisions need to be made to resolve the issue. Individuals need to be able to make decisions quickly and efficiently to avoid further conflict.
Ability to create a positive work environment
A positive work environment is essential for team performance. Individuals need to create an environment where team members feel valued and respected.
Ability to integrate different perspectives
When there is conflict within a team, it is often due to different perspectives. Individuals need to be able to see both sides of the issue and integrate diverse perspectives to find a resolution.
Personal coaching for conflict management in the team setting
Let’s look at how team conflict can be resolved.
Personal coaching is one of the best ways to resolve team conflicts. The Scrum Master plays a vital role as a relationship conflict resolution agent. They pay attention to the root cause and listen carefully to the challenge. The Scrum Master needs to have a good relationship with the team members to guide them through any impediments. The teams should also get along well with one another at the same time.
One-on-one coaching discussions with the team members aid in understanding their issues and difficulties. The teams should be given time to try to tackle the problem on their own and come up with a solution. But the Scrum master intervenes when a team quarrel becomes unresolvable and negatively affects the team’s production.. But when there is a situation where the team conflict is not going anywhere and impacting the team’s productivity, the Scrum master steps in.
Here are four steps to help manage conflict and mentor the teams.
Scene Setting
Before taking any action, one must first comprehend the conflict’s underlying causes. Acting on the disagreement without knowing its underlying causes can make things worse and make the issue worse. The Scrum Master assembles the team to identify the core cause in an assertive manner.
Gathering information
When acquiring information in this situation, listening is crucial. Don’t pass judgement on the people or circumstances at hand. Recognize the difficulties from everyone’s point of view. Always respect others’ opinions and foster a welcoming atmosphere where everyone feels heard and valued. The scrum master must assist the team in realising that a conflict affects more than just the parties directly involved and the rest of the team.
Brainstorming to find the solution
In certain instances, the scrum master might not be able to resolve the issue.
You can assist the group in brainstorming other alternatives. It can happen by directing the conversation using various facilitation tools and techniques. Strong inquiries, constructive dialogues, and hands-on brainstorming exercises can all help you hear the teammates’ quieter voices.
Deciding on the solution
After the team has contributed their many thoughts and suggestions, please compile a list of them that is accessible to all.
Ask the group which one they would like to implement after discussing those. Encourage the teams to communicate and establish trust so they may freely share and express themselves so that everyone feels involved in the decision making process.
Tips for managing team conflict effectively
Some tips for developing effective conflict management include:
- Learning to identify the early signs of team conflict
- Developing good communication skills
- Learning how to compromise
- Learning how to mediate disagreements
- Being willing to seek outside help when necessary
By following these tips, team members can learn how to manage conflict effectively and improve performance.
When a team or task conflict arises, it is essential to take action immediately to prevent the situation from escalating. Using the tips and strategies described above, team members can learn how to manage team conflict and improve performance effectively.
Conclusion
A deeper understanding between the team members is one of the advantages of resolving any conflict situation. As they proceed, they gain new knowledge and develop their ability to adapt and cooperate more effectively. Team members become more trustworthy of one another, which enhances coordination. Teams develop self-awareness, respect for each person’s functioning, and an ability to adapt to more modern working practices. In the end, it boosts team happiness and productivity.
If you would like to learn more about managing conflict within your team, contact Leadership Tribe and we are happy to get on call with you and discuss the best way to join our high performing Coaching Practice & Team Building sessions.
by Aarti Bhatt | Aug 16, 2022 | Leadership And Management
Handling Conflicts with Teams
Conflicts take place in all environments, be it personal or professional. Here we are going to investigate how we can see the signs of conflict and manage conflict in the workplace at a professional level when working in teams. I am sure we have all faced conflicts at our workplace and what’s important is – how did we manage it.
A lot of us tend to look at conflicts as a threat. The most important thing for us to acknowledge is that conflicts will occur, and we need to normalize it. It is OK to have conflicts. There is some level of effort that is needed to address conflicts in the best way possible without worsening the situation.
Another big question is “Who resolves the conflict?” Is there a particular person from the team who plays the role of a mediator and helps resolving it? However, the answer is, there is no single person who is solely responsible to resolving the conflicts in the teams. It is the entire team who should collaboratively come together to help resolve the conflicts and this is usually a key part of the ground rules for finding the causes of conflict.
However, in an agile team, the scrum master plays a vital role in coaching and mentoring the teams and supports in removing any impediments. He/she is the guardian of the scrum processes and ensures team adhere to it. If the teams can identify the origin of the conflict, usually they try to resolve it amongst themselves and look at each parties viewpoints. It however gets done under the supervision of the Scrum Master if the conflict is intensifying and becomes an impediment for the team.
Beyond Conflict Management, Let’s look at how conflict in the workplace can be resolved
Personal Coaching is one of the best ways to resolve conflict situations in any work environment. The Scrum Master plays a vital role here in the resolution process overall. They pay attention to the root cause and listen carefully to the challenge at hand. It is important in the first place for the Scrum Master to have good conflict management skills and be someone who’s decision making is trusted, as they will need a good relationship with the team members to be able to guide them through any impediments and simultaneously the teams should have a good relationship amongst themselves too.
Having one on one coaching conversations with the team members helps everyone be an active listener and understand their concerns and challenges that are being faced. One needs to give the teams time to try and resolve it on their own and figure out a way. But when there is a situation that the basic conflict is not going anywhere and impacting the productivity of the team, the Scrum master steps in with his or her problem solving expertise.
Here are 4 steps to help resolve conflicts and mentor the teams
Scene Setting
One needs to start by understanding the root cause of the conflict before taking any actions. This know how is vital for all working relationships because acting on the conflict without understanding the root cause can worsen the situation and only suppress the problem even further – which in turn can reduce overall team performance. The Scrum Master uses an assertive approach to bring the team together to understand the root cause and improve the team or company culture overall, as clashes can often arise from something beyond the task and workflow overall.
Gathering information
Listening is an integral part here when gathering information about each type of conflict. Avoid going awry with your tone of voice, being judgmental of the people or situation at hand. Understand the challenges from the perspective of everyone involved, as everyone has different work styles and levels of teamwork historically in their experience. Remember to respect everyone’s point of view and create the safe environment where everyone feels heard and acknowledged.
The scrum master needs to help the team understand the conflict doesn’t just impact the people involved in the conflict but also the rest of the team. A common way to improve team building is making sure the team knows/understands each other, the skills, roles and tasks each person has and thus can pre-empt any task conflict.
Brainstorming to find common ground
In certain scenarios it might not be possible for the scrum master to provide the solution to the conflict. You can guide the team to come up with various solutions. This can happen with directing the conversation using various facilitation tools and techniques. You can ask powerful questions, having healthy debates, use hands on activities for brain storming which will help in hearing the quieter voices in the team too.
Deciding on the solution for employee conflict
Once you have brainstormed all the different ideas and inputs from the team, make a list of them which is visible to everyone. Have a discussion around those and ask the team which they would like to implement and come to a mutual understanding of moving forward. Encourage the teams to talk together and build trusts which would allow them to share openly and express themselves. Look out for potential sources of conflict and tones of voice that may raise issues.
The benefits of conflict resolution are that there is better understanding between the team members. They learn something new about each other as they move forward and learn to adapt and work better together. The trust level between team members improves which leads to better coordination. The teams become self-aware and also learn to respect each members way of functioning and learn to adapt to newer ways of working. Ultimately it leads to better productivity and happier teams.
Learn more about agile, scrum, teamwork and digital transformation with our Agile Training & Scrum Training with online courses from Leadership Tribe today.
by Aarti Bhatt | Aug 9, 2022 | Agile Coaching
Most articles that you come across about Agile Coaching say, as an Agile Coach one must ask “POWERFUL QUESTIONS”. Let’s look at what exactly are powerful questions and dive deeper into how and when to use them. Most Coaches and Facilitators ask powerful questions when engaging with team members or larger groups. Powerful questions are not just “good questions” but an overall simple and easy to use an empowering technique to use.
Here is a scenario:
Your team has come across a blocker / impediment, and they go to the SM or Team lead and ask “What should they do?”
Here are few scenarios of how the conversation can go:
a) The SM/TL says” go ask XYZ person (SE) to help you”
b) I’ll take care of it and fix it
c) I don’t know, why are you coming to me?
d) What do you think you should do next?
In many cases, a lot of leaders go down the path of saying either a, b or c. However many with leadership skills might look at option d and the process of question-asking overall.
As leaders what we don’t realize is that when we are giving out the answers/ solutions, we are hampering the team from learning and working as a team to fix the hurdles. At the same time, we are also reducing the ability of theirs to take ownership, learn from the wisdom of the team and self-confidence.
Powerful questions are open ended and allow individuals to respond to the direction they choose to take, Asking powerful questions allows new possibilities and encourage the individual to dive deeper and discover newer insights and options. It helps everyday leadership to empower teams, unlock their potential, uplift team performance and business results.
Examples of some powerful questions which you can use at any given point are:
- What do you mean?
- Can you tell me more?
- What have you tried so far?
- What are your other options?
- What are the possibilities
- What are your next steps?
These focus on getting various points of view and new learnings from all parties involved. Whether with co-workers or clients, the level of self-awareness increases here with the right questions and reframe objectives accordingly.
There are different models which one can use whilst having a conversation and using powerful questions. The GROW model is one which is simple to use when thinking of how to ask questions.
- G: Goal (What do you want)
- R: Reality (Where are you now?)
- O: Options (What could you do?)
- W: Will/ way forward (What will you do?)
Let’s dive a little deeper into the GROW Model with examples of few questions:
Goal:
The GOAL is addressed at the beginning of the coaching conversation and can be referred to time and again to keep focus moving forward particularly if the coachee is stuck. Identifying the Goal of the conversation sets a path to the conversation and provides clarity on what the coachee wants to achieve since last time. Some of the questions to use here are:
- What do you want to achieve from this coaching session?
- What goal do you want to achieve?
- What do you want to change?
- What would you like to happen with ______?
- What do you really want?
- What would you like to accomplish?
- What result are you trying to achieve?
Reality:
In this area, it is the exploration of what the coachee experience is. It is advisable to spend more time exploring the reality phase as it gives more clarity about what is happening and how it affects the coachee and the people around the coachee. It also allows them to look at it in a different perspective. Some questions that can be used are:
- What is happening now? What is the effect or result of this?
- What steps have you already taken towards your goal?
- Where are you now in relation to your goal?
- What is working well right now?
- What is required of you?
- What do you think is stopping you?
- What did you learn from _____?
- What have you already tried?
- How could you turn this around?
High angle view of businesswomen discussing in office
Options:
As the reality becomes clearer, you move towards the options. Explore what are the different options they can try. This allows them to think deeper and out of the box and explore ideas they might have not thought of or were hesitant to even think about. Some simple questions that can be asked here are:
- What are your options?
- What do you think you need to do next?
- Who else might be able to help?
- What would happen if you did nothing?
- What has worked for you? How could you do more of that?
- What would happen if you did that?
- What would you gain/lose by doing/saying that?
- What’s the best/worst thing about that option?
- What could you do differently?
- If anything was possible, what would you do?
Will / Way forward
Once you have explored the various options, look at what is the way forward to reducing biases, hesitance and competencies overall. Encourage the coachee to come up with some actions that they can take and can commit to. It is important for them to come up with the actions as ultimately it is them who have to implement / action it. Even if it is one action, that’s alright. Ultimately this conversation is all about the coachee’s agenda and not yours as a coach. Some questions that you can ask in this area are:
- How are you going to go about it?
- What do you think you need to do right now?
- What will one small step you take now?
- What are three actions you can take that would make sense this week?
- When are you going to start?
- What support do you need to get that done?
- What obstacles are getting in the way of success?
- What will happen (or, what is the cost) of you NOT doing this?
It is important to remember that using this model does not mean you have to follow the order to the T. An effective conversation starts with the Goal and Reality and then moves between all 4 elements. It can explore practical tools and open-ended questions as not everything can be answered immediately.
There are many more questions that you can explore and use. If you would like to practice your coaching skills with someone, you can write to Leadership Tribe and we are happy to get on call with you and discuss the best way to join our high performing Coaching Practice sessions.
by Aarti Bhatt | Aug 4, 2022 | Leadership And Management
As a member of any team, it is our goal to reach a level where all our team members across various skill sets, from team leaders to new staff attain the level of working as high-performance teams. However, this level of effective team dynamics sometimes can be a wish which seems far off… sounds familiar? In this article we are going to look at what exactly is a High Performing Team and what are the characteristics of these teams.
So, what exactly is a High Performing Team?
A group of people with specific knowledge who are goal focused and achieve high business results. Individuals in the team bring in their expert knowledge and skills and collaborate, innovate, and produce great results as a team. This helps whether with decision making or problem solving, down to the enjoyment of the project or task overall no matter what the team size.
Why should teams be High Performing?
All organizations are different, and the culture built within each organization varies for every business. It can be the values and beliefs and all the way to how organizations treat their employees. Having a strong organization and team culture is very important for the success of a company. All the areas in an organization will highly benefit if companies focus on performance and culture. By doing so, it will lead to:
- Better engagement within teams and with the clients
- A better retention of employees
- Higher productivity by employees across the organization.
- Happier employees and happier customers.
A collaborative and effective team goal can drive incentive for all involved.
What are the problems you solve by being a High Performing Team?
- Lack of Trust
- Lack of Leadership
- Poor communication within teams and with Leadership
- Unclear goals / visions
- Poor feedback mechanisms/ frameworks
- Acceptance to change
- Managing and resolving conflicts
Now let’s look at what are the different Characteristics of High Performing teams
1) Having a clear and aligned purpose
All team members understand the vision, mission, and goals. They need to understand and come to a common understanding of “why” they are doing what they are doing. This helps create a strong work environment for all and enables strong team development.
2) Clear Roles and Responsibilities
Everyone in the team knows what their roles & responsibilities are and know what they need to contribute to those goals. They know how to leverage each team members skills and make the best from it. From project management to use of leadership skills, the team needs come first.
3) Trust and Mutual Respect
For Teams to be able to collaborate and work together, Trust and respect is very important. Great teams value each other and trust that each members knows what they are doing or how they will execute their tasks. Having this element of trust allows members to:
- Commit fully to what they are doing
- Take risks without having to wait for approval/ permissions
- Share ideas openly (you never know what brilliant ideas can be generated when teams have that space to share their thoughts and ideas)
- Innovate products and create new methods and new ways of working
4) Proper Planning
Whether a new team or revising an existing structure, the teams develop a structure that works for them to plan their work in advance. They create guidelines or operating procedures for planning and execution which help even out the process and make it simpler for the team. This allows a space for everyone’s voice to be heard.
5) Self-Managing Teams
Self-Managing teams take full responsibility to ensure the work they have committed to is delivered through collaboration without having a manager or leader telling them what to do. The teams know what next to work on and/or have the decision to pull in their work. It is a pull system and not a push system.
6) Managing conflicts within the team
Conflicts will arise irrespective of which team you are in. However, it is “How” these teams manage conflicts that matters. Different opinions will take place and encouraging the teams to have an open dialogue and effective communication creates a space to share each ones opinion and let the best teams be heard.
7) Celebrating Successes and Failures
As High performing teams it is important to ensure you celebrate with your teams. It is always nice to acknowledge the effort and work that goes behind each project or deliverable. Roles should offer complementary skills such as employee development so that all members feel a sense of purpose, and positive about the team composition and open communication.
8) Continuous Learning
Teams learn continuously when they collaborate and solve problems together. Encourage your teams to up-skill themselves and create a space for them to practice their existing skills.
We have looked at some of the characteristics of high performing teams. You know where your teams excel and where they can make improvements now that you are aware of the qualities of High performing Teams. So what can you do to take one step closer to getting outstanding results from being part of a High Performing Team.
Learn more about agile, scrum, teamwork and digital transformation with our Agile Training & Scrum Training with online courses from Leadership Tribe today.
by Aarti Bhatt | Apr 11, 2022 | Leadership Tribe
Leadership Tribe worked with Flydocs on how to improve its efficiency and project management to create better value out of it’s aircraft maintenance data. From removing blockers early on and making workflow more visible across all departments and stakeholders, our agile approach helped time spent in development cycles improve by 2000%
Agile teams in the Aviation Industry
The agile engineering team had a lot of complex projects, long lead times and wanted to delivery better, faster products with good quality to customers. With its cloud-based Flydocs records management platform, it knew that air travel management could be easier if development methods could be improved.
Leadership Tribe looked at exposure of cross skills so that the team members could benefit from each other’s skills, as well as better time management in the new way of working. With less impediments and seperation, the team was able to work on multiple sprints and use this to train the rest of the teams on Agile practices & Agile ways of working.
We also worked with new product owners for the future development projects – while working with the existing leads/scrum masters on Agile Leadership skills such as Coaching, Mentoring, Training and Facilitation.
Work included focusing on:
- Communication and Change Plans
- Transformation Support & Sprint Teams
- SCRUM Training
- Roles & Responsibilities
- Product Backlog nurturing
- Sprint Planning
Transforming the IT teams
Our work helped meet Flydocs client/customer needs by improving its use of resource, including testing and software development on various projects such as their Records Management software. Implementing the Agile Transition process included the following steps.
- Evaluate the business mission / vision
- Create a Business solution concept
- Set up an adoption & implementation strategy
- Transformation plan: Value stream mapping, product backlog, metric (measure current start, stories delivered and skills)
- Pilot teams: communication and change training, transformation support, SCRUM training, roles & responsibilities
- Sprint 0: Product backlog estimates, iterative release schedule and roadmap
- Sprints: Product Backlog nurturing, Sprint Planning, Stand-ups, Sprint Retrospectives, Release Roadmap Updates, Showcase to PO and deliver to customer, Employee satisfaction
This plan helped speed up overall product development in real-time over the months ahead.
The results in numbers
- 823% Cycle time improvement average across all sized projects
- Average Cycle time reduced by 98 days
- Technical skills improved by 27%
- Reduced size of team involved in each story by 74%
Better Teams, Happy Clients
Our approach aims to bring your team the benefit of:
- Improved team collaboration and accountability
- Improved visibility of work: improving teamwork and commitment
- Better time management, improved estimating process
Delivering faster and good quality products to the customers is part of what Leadership Tribe can offer to you. We work with providers and companies in various markets from technology to finance, aerospace to insurance, banking and more.
How Leadership Tribe Can Help You
Find out how to become a certified agile practitioner, whether in the aviation industry or elsewhere, by Scheduling a Consultation with Leadership Tribe today and view our blog for the latest news, insight and other case studies.
