The previous article centered primarily around Patrick Lencioni’s first of the five dysfunctions of a team, the absence of trust. Since the remaining levels are all built upon one another, it may be a good idea to do a quick review. The absence of trust is the first dysfunction that must be corrected before any other team focused cures can be put in place. When teammates don’t trust each other, there will always be some kind of roadblock in the way of progress and true success. The second level in the pyramid of dysfunction is fear of conflict.
Fear of conflict is illustrated by those people on the team who, rather than speaking up when they either don’t understand something or don’t agree with something, will remain quiet in order to avoid conflict. Staying confused is never a good idea and not voicing one’s opinion is even worse. So why fear conflict? If the team has successfully combated the absence of trust, then fear of conflict shouldn’t matter much, right? The answer is that it matters more than one might think.
The first issue is that conflict is perceived to be bad by the world at large. I tell my kids all the time to quit bickering and just get along. I never really stopped to think that the conflict the kids are going through is part of the problem solving process and maybe I should let it go a little longer and help them come to a resolution. Conflict isn’t necessarily debilitating to a team. In fact conflict and its resolution are imperative to a team’s success. When ideas are put forth by one team member and discussion ensues. Oftentimes that discussion will contain disagreements with the initial proposal. The disagreements may be slight or major. Nonetheless, resolution should be found before moving on to the next proposal.
The conflict and its resolution is the method by which a proposal can evolve from a good idea to a great idea. The rub occurs in two places. The first is when the proposer takes criticism personally. In a trust based team system, the proposer should realize that there is no personal attack when an idea is brought into question. The ensuing inquiry based discussion should be viewed as an attempt to improve the fluidity and effectiveness of the aforementioned proposal. Any team with buy in will want to help make an initial idea that is good, better. Ownership of the idea by the individual is good in the sense that the owner will likely exude a certain passion for the plan that will infect the rest of the team who will then want to jump on board. Too much ownership, however, can negate the positive influence of a team because the proposer is unwilling to admit that a better or more effective solution can be created by the varying perspectives of the group. At that point the proposer has allowed hubris to take over and begins to believe he already has the only best answer.
The second rub comes from team members who do not buy into the initial premise of the proposal, at least to the point of healthy discussion. Team members who sit quiet when they should speak up are undermining the best outcome possible for the idea through neglect. There are a couple of reasons team members may take this route. They either fear hard feelings from the proposer or are setting up a shifting of accountability away from themselves. Shifting accountability means the team member wants to be able to say they had no influence or input in the idea if it is a failure, thereby excusing themselves from ownership in that failure. This path seems a bit like cowardice to me. Either way the team member is avoiding conflict when they should be embracing it as a means to improve the team and its outcomes.
Fear of conflict and the ensuing avoidance of it is a major team dysfunction because when conflict is avoided as opposed to embraced, false harmony is created. False harmony damages the ability of a team to function properly because most members become unaware of a problem until it is too late to correct. True harmony is something to be striven for within the team but it can only be obtained through honest conflict management and resolution. True conflict management and resolution can only come about when all team members are willing to be heard in an open and professional manner without fear of recompense or retribution. After all, it’s all the same team and a fully functioning team wants the best outcome regardless of the level of conflict it takes to reach that end.
