You’ll probably agree that dealing with conflict in the workplace can be a difficult and delicate matter. Which suggests that conflict might be a bad thing. But that’s not necessarily the case.

An example of the advantages of conflict can be found in Jim Collins’ book “Good to Great”. In a discussion on Nucor (one of the ‘good to great’ companies studied), there is a passing reference to deliberately generating conflict in frontline teams:

“The Nucor system did not aim to turn lazy people into hard workers, but to create an environment where hardworking people would thrive and lazy workers would either jump or get thrown right off the bus. In one extreme case, workers chased a lazy teammate right out of the plant with an angle iron.”

In Nucor’s case, the aim was to create enough conflict to ensure that those people who did not fit the organisation chose, or were pushed, to leave. In the end the resulting conflict was beneficial for both the workgroup and the company.

This commentary suggests that the best way to handle conflict may be to have a conflict resolution mechanism set up ahead of time using behaviour standards (which some people refer to as team norms). These are agreements made, or clear expectations specified, in advance which determine how the team will work together.

Generally, people will often make agreements in terms of general outcomes – such as team work, integrity or respect. But what do these terms really mean? Many things to many people as it turns out.

By way of example, James Kouzes and Barry Posner in their book “The Leadership Challenge” said, “Even with commonly identified values, there may be little agreement on the meaning of values statements. One study, for example, uncovered 185 different behavioural expectations around the value of integrity alone. Leaders must engage their constituents in a dialogue about values.”

Your opportunity is to turn those unclear outcomes into clear, specific behavioural standards which communicate clearly how the team will operate. Here are some examples:

• Only agree to deadlines you fully intend to meet
• If you’re not sure about the right approach to take, ask others
• Admit your mistakes
• Do what you say you will
• Communicate in ways that maximise the likelihood that your communication will be accepted and acted on
• Suggest ideas for new improvements to products, services and processes
• Start meetings at the time scheduled
• Do not interrupt other team members when they are stating their position
• Problems among team members must be raised and resolved by the group
• We will call in a neutral third party for help when x happens

Taking the time to establish behavioural standards for the team has two key advantages. They provide clear guidance on accepted team practice, which reduces the likelihood of conflict arising. And when conflict does occur you have a calm, rational conflict resolution mechanism already in place with other team members ready to enforce it.

Image by Marcus Berguv