Why do we avoid conflict in teams?
This may seem like a completely ridiculous question. Why would anybody go looking for conflict? Why would we not avoid conflict? This is a no-brainer… or is it?
There are actually times when conflict serves a purpose. The specific time I am thinking about is that time in the life of a team when we discover that not everyone thinks alike. Not everyone came to the meeting with the same idea about what to build, not to mention how to build it. Maybe it is a problem to be solved. maybe it is a product that will revolutionize an industry. What if we have totally different ideas and approaches?
There are some specific reasons that people shy away from the conflict that may show up when team members do not agree:
- I don’t want to have my brilliant idea shot down or even watered down…
- I don’t want to seem argumentative or difficult to work with.
- My voice is not that important; others usually prevail anyway.
- The boss always gets her/his way, so why push my ideas?
- The sooner we all agree, the quicker this meeting will be over
So what do we do with the conflict that erupts in our teams. I have an answer, so please stay tuned…
