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"There are a few tensions in our team and it affects our work"

Writer's picture: Julien HautierJulien Hautier

This is how the discussion starts with some of our clients at Skills4Dev. What can be done in this type of situation? 



In the following lines, you will find a few strategies to manage tensions and conflicts within your team.



First thing, first: don’t try to avoid tensions, get ready for them! 



Like it or not, they will be there for you. Tensions in teams are normal and natural. Why? Because we come to the workplace with different backgrounds, perspectives, personalities and preferences. Tensions are part of the life of organizations. So, in a team, they will arise sooner or later, strong or light. 



1️⃣ Prepare the general team mindset



At the moment, the situation in the team might look clear and fluid. Things can change in different ways. The equilibrium of today will not be the equilibrium of tomorrow, and it works both ways. If you openly acknowledge that tensions can arise in the team and you send the message that “we will deal with it”, then people will not be surprised when it happens. They will be mentally ready for it. Talking about the potential occurrence of tensions or conflicts dedramatizes the event. It prepares the ground for a rational approach when it happens. 



2️⃣ Acknowledge emotions



You already know that the members of your team do not react equally to the same types of situation. They do not manage their emotions in the same way. Solving conflict often starts with managing emotions. We need to go over emotions first, to be able to give room to rationality, clarity and mutual interests. It is particularly important to make sure that discussion do not happen when emotions are at their peak. 



To team members: do not expect your team to manage the emotions of all team members; impossible. 


To team leads: trying to solve tensions before cleaning the ground of emotions or you might end up in a much longer process. 


Conflict resolution is a joint process in which all parties need to be involved. 



3️⃣ Set up conflict resolution mechanisms. 



Try to get a general protocol for conflict resolution within the team (into need to be very precise or formal), that is discussed and agreed among the team members before the conflict arise. It might sound like common sense, but what is less obvious is to actually start talking about conflicts when they are not in your face yet … we usually wait for them to happen. And when it happens, the opportunity to set up a protocol that is disconnected from the current situation is gone. 



Help us learn from your experience! 🙂 


What have you experienced in terms of conflict management in the workplace? What are the best and worst practices we can learn from? 



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