The Danger of Avoiding Conflict
"Overcoming the tendency to run from discomfort is one of the most important requirements for any leadership team—in fact, for any leader. When leadership team members avoid discomfort among themselves, they only transfer it in far greater quantities to larger groups of people throughout the organization they’re supposed to be serving.” Patrick Lencioni
Why is Conflict Important on a Team?
Healthy conflict is not only important on a team, it is also necessary. Because what is at stake if we don’t have healthy conflict? Suboptimal decisions. Lack of commitment. Artificial harmony.
Conflict allows teammates to passionately debate what is right, not who is right. And if we are not having conflict in our meetings, we are not making the best decisions. People often strive for consensus and avoid conflict. At The Table Group we believe that consensus is far more destructive to a team than healthy conflict. It leads to artificial harmony and slow decisions.
Leaders of healthy teams lean into conflict built on trust. They do this because the decisions we made in meetings matter. Those decisions affect employees, customers, and families.
Do any of the following sound true for your team? Here are some signs that you may not be having enough good conflict.
Teams that fear conflict…
- Have boring meetings
- Create environments where back-channel politics and personal attacks thrive
- Ignore controversial topics that are critical to team success
- Fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of team members
- Waste time and energy with posturing and interpersonal risk management
Teams that engage in conflict…
- Have lively, interesting meetings
- Extract the ideas of all team members
- Solve real problems quickly
- Minimize politics
- Put critical topics on the table for discussion
Next steps to take action
When it comes to practicing healthy conflict as a team, would you give yourselves a red, yellow or green? Share your answer at your next team meeting and get curious with how your team members would assess the same. Reach out if you want to chat, have questions, or it is time to run a Team Assessment Report.
Want to Learn More About Healthy Conflict?
Discover the Conflict Continuum
Check out podcast episodes:
- The Upside of Conflict — Patrick Lencioni tackles one of his favorite topics. He and Cody Thompson discuss why conflict is critical on teams and why so many companies avoid it at all costs. Patrick Lencioni provides practical tips for leaders and teams looking to bring more healthy conflict into their decision making.
- Stop Agreeing to Disagree — Too many teams, families, and friends stop short of the best answer because they “agree to disagree.” Pat and Cody suggest a different approach – convince or be convinced.
