One of the biggest keys to team conflict resolution is to acknowledge the different personality styles within your team and its individual members. Team conflict resolution has a lot to do with dealing with the differences in each independent personal style. Obviously each person on a team is going to have a unique personality. This is actually a good thing most of the time, because when people are able to make use of their unique talents, all of the necessary functions of a project can be addressed and covered. Teams need balance when it comes to different approaches and beliefs. For example, in order for a team to work, it should feature practicality as well as vision, tradition as well as change, details as well as big, broad picture, structure and creativity, focus on content as well as focus on process, reserved style in addition to outgoing style, relaxed pace and fast paced, and the list goes on. Team members can quite possibly challenge one another to expand and to grow, meaning that there is an opportunity there for harmony just as well as conflict. Conflict is not necessarily a bad thing, as some conflicts can have positive results when properly resolved.
Personality Style Differences and Team Conflict Resolution
Even when a team feeds off of the advantages that the other team members offer, there are still potential problems that can arise, most often relating to personality style differences which lead to a need for team conflict resolution. The ability for these conflicts to be recognized early, and the ability to understand the fallacy that lies in these problems are absolutely essential when it comes to being able to make personality style differences work together with one another. Here is a look at some of the things to look out for, for when it comes to personality style differences and conflict resolution.
The “My Way is Correct” Perception
Just because something may come quite naturally to you that does not mean it is necessarily the one right way to do it. It is easy to think this way or feel this way, but the truth is, there is more than one single right way to accomplish most things, and there is a LOT that you can learn by watching other members of your team as they are able to obtain solid results by following a different method. One of the true keys of team conflict resolution, as with any other conflict resolution, is to take something away from every conflict as a learning experience.
Conflicts in Day to Day Situations where Differences are Commonly Experienced
Although a team needs a balance of different approaches in order to thrive, these differences are capable of causing conflict. The solutions to these conflicts are often found in the tension that arises when values from different team members are brought into the situation.
Misreading the Motives of Others Based on Self Reference
Team members often attempt to read the behavior of their other team members by trying to use themselves as a reference. For example, someone who is talkative may perceive a quiet person to be angry or upset simply because they are not talking, not realizing that they simply have two different styles of behavior. One person’s behavior does not necessarily mean what you think it does simply because you perceive it to mean a certain feeling or action, meaning that using the self as a reference is often at the root of team misunderstandings as well as a need for team conflict resolution.
Judging Differences Rather Than Appreciating Them
Team members thrive when they work with people who are unique from them, at least if you want the team to be truly effective. However, it is quite easy for people to mistakenly or unintentionally become judgmental about how other people handle certain tasks, rather than having an appreciation for the differences.
Excluding or Avoiding Perceived Troublemakers
Troublemakers may be defined as anyone who approaches something different, or who challenges another person in the team. Troublemakers are actually a good thing, and are useful in the team conflict resolution process. This is because people who challenge us tend to cause us to reevaluate, think and maybe even learn a new way that something can be accomplished.
Team conflict resolution will be a much simpler process when team members are able to identify these patterns in their own selves, nipping them in the bud before they develop into serious conflict issues.