We are pleased to share an article entitled “ Reframing Conflict ~ The power of dissenting ideas in support of innovation ” written by Betsy Block.
Early in my systemic team coaching journey, I coached the co-founders of a social justice nonprofit. I asked them to define what their system looked like at its best, and they said (I’m paraphrasing a bit here): “We will be going in full-tilt, disagreeing with and supporting each other until we get to the aha moment.”
They agreed that being individually “wrong” was in service of the growth of the organization, and that they would leverage their trust in their relationships to let go of their personal stake in their answers.
DEFINING CONFLICT
If people tense up hearing the word “conflict,” they might be choosing the definition of conflict that references serious arguments, childhood parental fights, or even warfare. However, if we open ourselves to embrace the broader, less charged definition of conflict, we reframe
conflict as the ability to surface seemingly incompatible or opposing ideas.
This definition of conflict has more use, noticing that ideas can be in opposition to each other without leading the participants to fighting, unpleasantness, etc. In this sense, conflict has a spectrum, and is not automatically toxic — only unskilled conflict goes there.
“I’m conflict averse” is something we all hear, and in the workplace, conflict avoidance can create an over-emphasis on harmony to the point of stifling creativity. By steering clear of the discomfort that can come with conflict, we err in the other direction of making dissent and unique ideas uncomfortable.
Teams so focused on consensus that the failure to allow dissenting ideas in the mix, while possibly efficient, can result in missing opportunities to innovate. And research shows that individuals who embrace dissent are more creative and efficient than those on teams that do not allow it.
If leaders and teams seek better ideas, then finding ways to invite in productive and innovative conflict is crucial. Teams that develop the capacity to discuss seemingly incompatible ideas are more conditioned to push each other’s thinking, lift up unique perspectives, and embolden flexible thinking.
READINESS FOR CONFLICT
Conflict is an amazing tool IF the team (and its leader) can navigate a course between what Patrick Lencioni calls “artificial harmony” and destructive, toxic engagement. Coaches can help teams work through what I call prerequisites to engaging in productive, healthy conflict.
Conflict Type: Not all conflicts can be productive. Conflicts that are centered on interpersonal/personality challenges are not our focus here; solving complex tasks as a team is a sweet spot for inviting in conflict.
Anti-oppression: A team that has ignored the implications of having an oppressive culture, whether through leadership approach or inherited ways of working, will take a fast-track to toxic conflict; teams have to engage in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work to engage in productive conflict without causing harm. If a team’s only method of getting to resolution meetings is by letting loud voices win, then the team needs to start with addressing anti-oppression work first.
Leadership Readiness: A team that is willing to take on creative conflict needs a leader who is aware of and can focus on relationships. The team leader must model and be willing to maintain consistency in how and when conflict is brought in the room.
Clear Team Values: Teams should articulate the values that guide how they want to interact as a team. These team values might be highly informed by the organization’s values but should speak first and foremost to the culture the team wants to create internally. In other words, what has to be true for this team in order for it to deliver on to its mission and be an engaging workplace?
THE POLARITIES OF CONFLICT
Conflict lives on a spectrum; it can be so mild that it is effectively harmony, or so toxic that it can damage a team — and the individuals on it.
At the “mild” end of the spectrum lives stagnation. Here you see a handful of attributes:
› The team holds consensus as the paramount value.
› The team thinks harmony is more important than innovation.
› The team holds fear of retribution or reprisal for being out of step, or that everyone needs to align with the leader.
› Individuals on the team think that having a different idea means they are out of alignment, and disagreement with others feels personal.
Here a team will stagnate, and team members will stop collectively generating and contributing ideas that could innovate a given effort, and over time could suppress innovative thinking in the first place.
At the “toxic” end of the spectrum, you will notice that:
› The team prizes rank, and individuals feel they have privilege to get their ideas heard.
› If team members share ideas that don’t conform, conversation becomes heated.
› When noticing disagreement, responses turn into attacks on the person rather than discussion of the problem.
› Individuals feel silenced and unsafe to bring dissenting ideas forward.
CREATIVE CONFLICT TOOLS
Finding the middle road isn’t a mystery — rather, it is about noticing and recognizing when the team is ready to engage in productive conflict and offering small steps towards conflict being a regular part of a team’s dynamic.
Here are key tools for the coach to work with a team on bringing back healthy conflict:
- Support the team in surfacing and addressing any oppressive practices and the leader in their readiness to hold the team address these issues.
- Define conflicts that the team can, wants to, and will engage in — namely the complex tasks that are about how to do something. Interpersonal conflicts must be addressed differently and aren’t the type of conflicts that support teams in being more flexible and innovative. Rather, these types of conflicts need to be de-escalated and organization need to look to bridge-building.
- Find a playful way in. One tool is playing “world’s worst” — rather than trying to agree on the best way to do something, compete with deciding the absolute WORST way to do something, the way to do something that would absolutely diminish your chances of succeeding. This is an improv-born tool that disrupts thinking and, interestingly, is a light-touch way to invite in dissent.
- Plan for consistency. Consistency is the key to rewiring people’s responses to conflict. Team members may have physiological “flight-fight-freeze” responses when they notice conflict. Bringing in this practice consistently will help those team members begin to manage those responses and engage in dynamic conversation of ideas.
- Poll for signals. Work with the team to capture signals on an ongoing basis to know that you are making progress on bringing in innovation. What about a pulse survey on welcoming new ideas even if they dissent from the norm? (a question asked on the TCI Team Diagnostic like other team surveys). Discuss what you learn from this information with your team.
- Remember your team values. Team values that are shared, “alive” and frequently referenced by the team provide a foundation for the team to engage constructively. If your team values don’t address innovation or disruption in some way, then revisit the values with the whole team. And if your team values already do that, ensure the team is aware that they are being guided by and honoring their team values.
BRING MORE CONFLICT
While some coaches are accustomed to balancing the “heat” that can come from a team working through conflict, some coaches tend to shy away because of their own discomfort with conflict or concern about disrupting what appears to be a healthy team. Coaches might need to think about this from the perspective of polarities: too much harmony can also be unhealthy.
In fact, avoiding conflict can cause dysfunction in an organization. In the social movement sector, experts argue that sidestepping conflict within organizations is a form of saviorism.
The good news is that coaches have the necessary tools and perspective to support teams and their leaders to welcome productive conflict. In addition to our suite of coaching tools — particularly systemic team coaching tools that have us put the problem “out in front” — we have access to facilitation tools, as well as practices from liberating structures and human-centered design, to help us help teams access conflict as a powerful tool.
Coaching teams to productive conflict will involve some myth-busting and making the case that innovation is “worth it” for them. The reward for teams will be organizational cultures that are more innovative, sustainable and healthier.
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