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Organizations often resist conflict believing that all conflict is bad for morale, employee engagement and growth.  While there’s no question that negative conflict and bickering aren’t good for a healthy workplace, workers who all agree isn’t necessary great for business either.  Without healthy conflict, organizations remain stagnant.

Consider a mature oak tree.  It didn’t become mighty by accident.  Roots required space, stability, and the right environment with nutrients to grow.  The trunk was strengthened by the wind, storms, and other factors.  Branches flourished when what withered was set-free or careful pruning occurred so that further growth could be achieved.

While organizations are vastly different than oak trees, they do have many things in common.  To thrive, both require the right environment, encouragement, and healthy conflict for optimal development into maturity.  When properly managed, conflict isn’t just essential to business growth, it strengthens teams, enhances critical thinking, offers new ideas, and improves employee engagement.

Here are a few creative ways to ensure conflict has a positive impact:

#1: Define Clear Processes and Procedures
Attorneys draft contracts and encourage signing of written agreements for a reason. The logic behind having something in writing is so that all parties understand the obligations and responsibilities they have to one another.  Another reason is to know when there’s a question, or when things don’t go as planned what to do.

Individuals working in an organization, all have expectations of what they demand from each other, the leaders, and the organization itself.  When there is a lack of clarity about expectations; how things are done; and who does what, when, using what tools/resources, this can create problems.

Consider opportunities for productive conflict discussions:

  • What are ways that your organization’s policies impact productivity, morale, or engagement? A common problem to consider is how different departments have goals or objectives that may pose challenges to another. One such example is procurement vs. technical support.  Procurement’s performance may be measured by cost containment while technical support may be measured by the number of support tickets it can resolve.  At initial glance performance metrics don’t seem to be competing, but upon further investigation, there may be a problem that can be identified through a productive, healthy debate.

    For the purpose of illustration, it may be discovered that a component necessary has been substituted during the procurement process as a cost containment strategy.  The production line may not know the problem exists because post-production product tests passed and the product is deemed ready for shipment.  While the substituted part met all of the specifications, in the real-world environment the substitution had stability issues and thus, required more calls into technical support.   While procurement met its performance measure and morale was high, technical support was falling far below its performance requirements and staff engagement was faltering.  There may also be some trickle-down impact as well, such as product returns or refunds that resulted in slowed growth metrics.  Additionally, other departments may experience issues such as marketing and sales not meeting performance measures due to brand reputation problems.

    The above scenario may require some healthy conflict to get to the heart of the problem.  There may also be need for further productive debates to resolve the competing performance metrics, and/or make adjustments to current processes.

  • How might processes or procedures require updating or clarification? Processes, in and of themselves, can be cumbersome and necessitate streamlining especially over time.  Some aspects may even be replaced with smart automation methodologies.  Often more experienced or efficient staff in a department have discovered shortcuts to improve productivity without impacting the overall process.  Are they sharing their secrets?  Likely they may have already challenged the status quo, tested it and have found a way to do the job faster and better.

    On the other hand, are there workers who are struggling to keep up or who might be resistant to taking on additional projects or responsibilities?  Both of these scenarios are also opportunities for conflict to arise.  Perhaps there are processes or procedures that are exceptionally cumbersome, technology that is outdated, or employees feel the organization doesn’t act on requests for more knowledge/tools/resources.

  • Who is doing what work, when and how? People are hired based on qualifications and then trained further.  This is the obvious reason why people do the kind of work they do, when and how it is done.  Problems can arise and result in conflict when:
    • There are issues with status (e.g., who is in charge, who makes decisions, who should be approached for problems or escalations, who makes approvals, etc.)
    • There are questions about how things should be done (e.g., the process isn’t entirely clear, tasks overlap and different departments have philosophical differences of approaches or processes, etc.)
    • There is a mismatch of priorities (e.g., departments or leaders may have conflicting priorities or goals, etc.)
    • There are questions about performance measures (e.g., underperformance, habitual tardiness or absenteeism, stress, burnout, efficiency vs. errors, etc.)

#2: Separate the Point from the Person
When an individual uses technical skills to hack into a computer or network, no one blames the computer for the breach of security.  Rather, the person who performed the actions on the computer is the party who is held accountable for what issues transpire as a result.

Sadly, the same principle is applied when conflict occurs in an organization.  The point is missed because the focus is often on the person delivering the message.  Navigating personality differences is a common theme in negative conflict scenarios.  However, static, that is, the distractions that can occur in communication is another problem closely related to how individuals interact.

Static in communication can lead to unhealthy conflict where people only see the person in a negative light, and thus respond by debating, bickering, shutting down, or in other unproductive, conflictive ways.  This can happen even if the person is addressing valid problems, presenting creative ideas, or challenging the status quo for the greater good.

Why does static take place?

  • Past, unpleasant interactions with a particular individual or department
  • Defensiveness about what is being communicated, or how it is communicated
  • Self-preservation (e.g., “I will have to acknowledge a mistake or error or that I was wrong.”)
  • Feeling emotional (e.g., frustrated, angry, irritated, etc.)
  • Issues with ego (e.g., needing to come across as knowledgeable, or powerful, etc.)
  • Seeing things from only one perspective or in absolutes (e.g., win/lose, right/wrong, no compromise, no solution, etc.)
  • General distractions (e.g., thinking about a response, texts coming in, phone ringing, a deadline, etc.)

Leaders can enhance communication by validating the points brought up for discussion and inviting a constructive debate rather than getting sidetracked into the personality differences and/or delivery of the message.    This can help align everyone so that collaboration can begin instead of avoiding issues or competing for attention.

PRO TIP: 
Celebrate small wins!  Shifting a mindset to listen to the message instead of confusing it with the person bearing it can be difficult to do.  It’s likely that few will embrace a new way of listening, but some will.  Ideally, get those who are the changemakers in the organization onboard early.  Add incentives and demonstrate appreciation.    Much like drops into a bucket, these small things eventually add up and make a difference.

#3: Take Inventory of Individual Special Talents

Every person has specific skills, things they enjoy doing, talents that make them remarkably qualified to do certain tasks or work on certain projects.  Often these “specialty talents” aren’t part of a formal hiring process or even a job description, but they can make an impact especially when it comes to conversations around conflict.

Consider taking an inventory of all staff talent.  Be sure to include everyone by asking them questions about themselves and about others.

  • What do they enjoy most?
  • What do they wish they could do more of in their job?
  • Who does [insert skill] the best?
  • Who has a hidden talent for [insert unknown skill or cross-over knowledge]?
  • Who is most knowledgeable about [subject matter]?
  • Who do you enjoy spending time with the most?
  • Who do you find is the best at teaching you a new skill/task, etc. related to your job?

The above questions can help identify strengths and weaknesses among workers.  Use of special talents may enhance positive, constructive conflict that might not otherwise exist such as:

  • To encourage further investigation into an issue, problem or challenge that shouldn’t be overlooked or ignored
  • To bring to light new information such as through a better understanding, more objective viewpoint, mediating between parties where resolution seems hopeless
  • To see things from a very unique perspective, often ones that haven’t been explored before but can lead to opportunities or minimize risks
  • To challenge others with friendly workplace competition to do things more efficiently, have better ideas, complete a stalled project, etc.
  • To connect-the-dots on various issues or opportunities and identify them faster than others
  • To offer a challenge to solve, especially one that seems virtually impossible to others.
  • To inspect details, such as finding errors, omissions, mistakes, etc. that might be overlooked by others.
  • To imagine and innovate, or bring fresh ideas forward
  • To disrupt the status quo, to look at how things can be improved, or modernized, or the formula changed, etc.

#4: Understand the Connection between Commitment and Conflict

People with a passion for the work they do are likely to trigger conflict from time to time.  Organizations need to recognize that this connection is entirely normal and to be expected especially from key talent.  They will expect more of themselves and people around them, including the organization as a whole.  Additionally, they will desire and expect to be valued for their achievements including being heard and appreciated for their efforts.

It’s important to note that employees who are quiet quitting or who are disengaged are signally that their commitment to the organization and/or the people around them is waning.  This is when more conflict, especially negative conflict will tend to surface.  Being heard and appreciated is only part of the solution to minimize unproductive conflict.  In this scenario, the freedom to do their job such as removing a micromanaging supervisor, providing a sense of purpose (e.g., how are they contributing to something bigger), and offering opportunities to grow can resolve many of the common conflicts.

By listening to the messages that underlie within conflict, leaders can learn how to address problems that can better engage employees and enhance overall morale.

While conflict can certainly be unproductive, it can also be healthy when it is properly managed.  Organizations can use positive conflict to stimulate business growth, strengthen teams, enhance critical thinking, generate new ideas, and improve employee engagement.

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Eloisa Mendez
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