Managing Team Conflicts

In her conflict management speech, Lindred Greer explains how to handle conflict in teams and companies by answering a series of questions.

According to the Stanford Graduate School of Business professor, there are two clear signs a conflict is destructive: if emotions are escalating (it's personal and distracting team members) and if people are fighting about things they don't actually care about. In the second scenario, these fights are simply venues for people to argue about bigger issues (like respect). The speaker explains how conflicts go viral and emphasizes if the conflict is about strategy and making the team better, it can actually be positive for team performance.

However, a manager should step in if the conflict is personal or about processes. Conflicts relating to relationship and status are also highly destructive to teams. Virtual teams present extra challenges as well. The main tips to deal with conflict as outlined in the conflict management speech is to know what people are fighting about, figure out why and determine what emotions are fuelling the argument.