Conflict in a team can be so frustrating for a Second Stage company. You want to focus on the work at hand, but you and your team can’t get started – or keep getting sidetracked – because you’re not working together.
There can be several reasons for team conflict. Often people look at the personalities involved, or the level of emotional intelligence, or “teamwork” – and it makes sense to look at all of those. An area many people don’t explore, though, is strategy.
Often times conflict arises from a poor or unclear strategy.
Conflict happens “when you don’t live up to my expectations.” And that happens much more often when (1) the strategy isn’t clear, because then there are no common expectations and everyone just uses their own, or (2) the strategy isn’t good, because that puts more pressure on everyone, and pressure makes it hard for everyone to work outside of their comfort zone.
Team-building exercises have their place. But if there is conflict in your team, you may have deeper work to do than just team-building. If you think that’s the case, schedule a strategic planning session, hire a strategy consultant, or lead your team through the strategic assessment workshop we offer in our Stage 2 Insight program.
