Earlier in the year, I shared a series on the five challenges of a dysfunctional team. One post talked about conflict from a different lens: the fear of conflict happening in a team.
Over the next couple of posts, I want to take a deeper dive into team conflict when it is happening in your team.
- The causes
- How to manage conflict
Conflict will happen in the workplace; it’s a fact of life. It is impossible to avoid some level of fallout and disagreements in teams, no matter how diligent you are as a manager.
However, managing the situation gets even more challenging when your team is virtual. Ending a zoom call too fast or curt one-word responses to WhatsApp or team messenger chats can create reactions you weren’t expecting.
The sting of disagreements in a physical setting is more likely to be handled fast if that is appropriate, or office conversations and camaraderie somehow dissipate the situation.
So today, let’s look at why conflict can happen.
Personal and Task Clashes
Before we do a deeper dive into the complexities of virtual conflict, let’s talk about conflict every team can face whether they are sitting opposite one another or they each reside five thousand miles away.
Personal conflicts are harder to avoid and not as easy to resolve; communication style training can help, which I will share later.
Personal mismatching can be navigated with a focus on team goals, values, and behaviours aligned to your organisation’s performance objectives and culture.
Though these conversations aren’t the easiest to have, behavioural development feedback is vital.
Here are two posts I penned last year that you might find useful. How to hone your coaching and feedback skills in a remote-first world and how to deliver motivational and developmental feedback.
When it comes to task and project management, strong individuals often have their ‘manual’ on how things should be done.
I am sure I don’t need to share examples as we have all come across individuals who have a difference of opinion on procedures and policies and how specific tasks should be completed. This can be simple to navigate, though not easy, with some collaboration and agreement on the process that is then monitored and managed.
Now let’s add a few more issues into the mix in our virtual world.
Communication Challenges of Virtual Working
Though virtual working has many perceived benefits, including work-life balance and productivity, it doesn’t rank highly when it comes to perceiving the body language of our work colleagues.
Body language is fascinating and incredibly useful.
I am sure many people who are reading this post can confirm they know the mood of someone the minute they sit down at their desk.
Our body language speaks volumes, according to Albert Mehrabian’s work. Voice tone, body language, nuance and facial expressions play a huge role in our communications.
Albert Mehrabian’s research has concluded that only 7% of feelings and attitudes occur through the words we use in spoken communications. In comparison, 38% occur through tone and voice, and the remaining 55% occur through body language.
Not surprising that the impact of our communication is missed when the preferred communication style of many people in a workplace setting is now email or SMS text.
Non-verbal cues like the way we move our hands and eye contact help provide context and insight to what we say, not something an email or text can deliver.
While MS teams and Zoom make it easier for remote teams to communicate better, they are not the same as conversations held in person.
Have you ever been frustrated by a tardy email or text response? Me too! The nature of the platform often means we don’t respond immediately – which can lead to frustration.
The fact is your team members can’t walk over to a colleague’s desk and get the information they need. Ignored or missed messages slow down workflows and can cause antagonism.
Communication Styles
Something that can help you navigate the communication puzzle is understanding the way we communicate through our communication styles.
When you understand that Jonathan’s one-word responses aren’t delivered to irritate you and that Sophie isn’t talking over you out of meanness, a level of understanding and patience descends across the team.
Understanding communication styles will help you navigate and work with the different styles in your team. With Insights® Discovery Team Development, you can accelerate your team’s high performance even if they are virtual.
Based on the psychology of Carl Jung, Insights® Discovery starts with a simple and memorable four colour model to help your team understand:
- their style
- their strengths and
- the value they each bring the team
To lead in a rapidly changing world, organisations reinvent themselves to form around an agile and dynamic network of teams. That’s why building effective teams is a priority for every organisation. If you want to know more about this, do get in touch.
Next time I will share several ideas on managing conflict in your team.
Until next time,
Julia Carter
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