Is all conflict harmful?

Conflict is inevitable in projects – sources of conflict include scarce resources, scheduling priorities, personal work styles, and culture.

It can be open – with two or more parties actively disagreeing – or it can be passive, whereby an individual is intentionally ‘silent‘, withholding work or decisions. 

Team ground rules, group norms, and solid project management practices like communication planning and role definition can all reduce the amount of disruptive conflict, but can conflict be used for constructive ends?

Successful conflict management results in greater productivity and positive working relationships. 

When appropriately managed, differences of opinion can lead to increased creativity and better decision-making. 

Conflict is in fact necessary for innovation, for without the free exchange and debate of new ideas, processes and practices become rigid and can hold performance back.

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Step-by-step

We have discussed elsewhere how to leverage and even encourage conflict in formal situations, such as team meetings and facilitated workshops, to arrive at new ideas.

As a project manager, you may find people in conflict with you, or you may be required to mediate a conflict between project team members or stakeholders. 

Either way, there are some basic steps you should follow to resolve the situation successfully.

Act early

The sooner you recognize conflict, the easier – and more cost-effective – it is to manage.

The longer the conflict goes on, the more stubborn stakeholders become; the larger the circle of people who are drawn into it, and the more damaging it becomes to productivity.

As we will discuss shortly, avoiding conflict is rarely the optimal leadership response.

Choose your time and place

Choose a good time to approach the affected parties so that no one is rushed.

Don’t start when the one person is in the middle of an important task or just about to head home – that will only add to the frustration.

Find a place where everyone can sit comfortably and quietly for a while.

Explain why the conflict is an issue and that you’d like to sort it out.

Agree the problem

This sounds like an obvious step, but different underlying needs, interests, and goals often cause people to perceive problems differently.

You’ll need to agree on the problems you are trying to solve before finding a mutually acceptable solution.

Sometimes, different people will see different but interlocking problems. If you can’t reach a common perception of the problem, then at the very least, you need to understand what the other person sees as the problem.

You should also relate the problem to the project and how it is impacting or likely to impact on the successful delivery of the project.

Differentiate wants and needs

Where possible, distinguish the ‘must have’ propositions of stakeholders from things they would merely ‘like to have’ when determining your response.

Just be mindful that some people intentionally overstate their demands as a tactic, knowing that many will likely be negotiated away.

Provide an open, fair hearing

If there is no threat of physical violence, talking it out is the best solution.

Face-to-face contact is better than letters and messages – and a good deal better than banging on walls, throwing things, or complaining about it to everyone else.

You should also let each party know that you are listening.

You may not agree with someone, but there’s nothing more frustrating than trying to talk to someone who doesn’t appear to be listening.

Say that you’re glad you’re talking about the problem.

This helps to ease the tension and is a great help in moving things towards an agreement.

Target issues, not personalities

Too often, media-driven political debate is about the contest of personalities and not of ideas.

That’s because it’s easier and often more penetrating to attack something as simple as style rather than complex substance.

As a project manager, however, your priority is the project.

Don’t let popular opinion win the day – unless of course, you have evidence that it is the best course of action.

Focus on solutions, not blame

Be outcome-focused.

You need to acknowledge the cause of problems; however, publicly berating an individual or group does not fix things, and may exacerbate tension.

That is not to say that you should ignore root causes; rather, you should manage blame privately with a view to remediation.

Commit to action

Ask each participant to describe specific actions they’d like to see the other take that would resolve the differences.

From there you can either negotiate or direct a course of action to follow, depending on how much common ground there is between the parties.

Both sides need to own their responsibility in resolving the conflict and express aloud what they have agreed to.

Importantly, as the mediator, it is your role to follow up with both parties to ensure these commitments are kept, possibly restarting the process if they are not.

A culture of positive conflict awareness can be created by encouraging people to openly talk about their different views and disagreements in a calm and structured way. 

Especially in the project environment, new ideas and fresh approaches to work must be generated and explored by way of vigorous discussion and debate.

It is inevitable and even desirable that different perspectives lead to conflict at times, which can be framed as creative tension requiring resolution. 

Nevertheless, if conflict is poorly managed, stakeholders might feel there is too much risk involved in contributing new ideas to the team, and they may disengage.