Fostering Productive Conflict in the Workplace

Workplace conflict is unavoidable, but that doesn’t mean it has to be detrimental to productivity or relationships. In fact, when handled in a healthy and productive way, conflict can lead to better outcomes. But this doesn’t happen on its own. Companies must create the environment for productive conflict to thrive by practicing effective communication, learning about different conflict styles, and embracing lessons learned.

“In great teams, conflict becomes productive. The free flow of conflicting ideas is critical for creative thinking, for discovering new solutions no one individual would have come to on his own.”  – Peter Senge

Practicing effective communication

One of the leading causes of workplace conflict is poor communication. It’s unrealistic to expect everyone you hire to have all the skills required to be great communicators. Even if they possess good verbal and written skills, they might not be great listeners. Teaching and practicing effective communication techniques provides employees with the tools they need to navigate difficult conversations.

Effective communication is more than a simple exchange of information. A good communicator understands the emotions and intentions behind the message. This requires a variety of skills and attributes including active listening, empathy, speaking from your own experience, and avoiding assumptions. From books and online courses (free and paid) to professional trainers and consultants, there are plenty of resources available that can help your company start your training journey, no matter your budget.

Training and practice go hand in hand. It will take time and deliberate effort for effective communication to become second nature. Having the whole company working together to adopt this new behavior will make the transition easier. Even so, mistakes will be made, and misunderstandings will happen. When they do, help each other learn from the experience and move forward.

Building awareness of conflict management styles

Learning each team member's conflict management style provides context and helps you understand their reactions when disagreements inevitably arise. Without this information, it’s tempting to make assumptions about the other person’s intentions based on our own coping strategies. Make it a practice for teams to have conversations about how they navigate conflict and to form agreements on how to stay calm and focused on learning and growing. 

When you’re ready to draft your team agreements, make sure all team members have the opportunity to contribute equally throughout the process. Agreements should be custom to the needs of each group, but consider including how decisions will be made, how information will be communicated, each team member’s conflict style, what they need from others when conflict does arise (i.e. space to think), and what to do when team agreements are breached (accountability). The completed version of your team agreements should be easily accessible by all and revisited and updated often. It’s a living document that should evolve along with the team.

Embracing and acknowledging lessons learned

People are more likely to continue doing something when they see the benefits of their efforts. That’s why it’s important to express appreciation to those willing to engage in productive conflict. It’s also a good practice to summarize the lessons learned and outline the process for implementing changes. Whenever new ideas arise out of conflict, jump on them by developing next steps and ensuring there’s a dedicated team of people to take on the project. And don’t forget to give credit to those who came up with new ideas. 

Appreciations, acknowledgements, and implementation of lessons learned are all key to reinforcing the benefits of productive conflict. So is accountability. Make sure there are appropriate consequences for when people engage in harmful behavior in the midst of conflict.  

Fostering productive conflict

Productive conflict creates space for different perspectives to be heard, explored, and integrated into new ways of doing business. It promotes creativity and innovation by making it safe for employees to share their ideas no matter how different they may be. Encouraging people to speak up, even when it means being in conflict, also helps to shed light on practices that are out of alignment with the company's values or mission. Avoiding conflict, or approaching it in a way that produces winners and losers, always leads to discontent and resentment, so embrace the opportunity to grow by fostering productive conflict in the workplace.

“The absence of conflict is not harmony, it’s apathy. If you’re in a group where people never disagree, the only way that could really happen is if people don’t care enough to speak their minds.” – Adam Grant