How do you get 3 teams in conflict to work together better?
Last month, one leader I was working with had this exact problem. Dave oversaw 3 people managers who kept bringing issues to him instead of solving it with each other. This meant:
- He was wasting time talking through the same problems over and over
- He couldn’t focus on his own work – and felt unproductive and guilty he wasn’t doing what he needed to do
- He couldn’t help them solve larger issues
As we were talking through the issue, one big thing was becoming really clear to Dave: by allowing it to happen, he not only created the pattern, but he also kept it going. Once he realized that, he was happy to fix it, but he didn’t know how. And he was nervous about how to bring it up.
So after we talked about it, here’s what he did to address it:
- Orient and Reset – He sat everyone down and held a level-setting meeting where he talked through what his role was, what everybody else’s role was, and how he wanted everybody to start working together.
- Engage and Create – He engaged the leaders to talk with each other about how they wanted to solve problems and the process they wanted to follow.
- Plan and Implement – He worked with them to identify clear guidelines on this new process and when to escalate things to him.
According to Dave, the most surprising thing about how the meeting went was that the team managers were so excited about this conversation that they immediately were receptive to what his role was and to talking through the guidelines.
As it turns out, they were all feeling like everything was moving too slowly and were happy to figure out how to work with each other better.
The reality is that teams naturally want to work better together. People generally want to do the work and do a good job.
As leaders, we sometimes have to just get out of their way and figure out how we’re going to support them to do the work they need to do.
What conversations do you need to have with your teams now to start breaking out these cycles?
Cheers,
Chris
PS – Whenever you’re ready, I have 3 ways to help you:
- Difficult Conversations Course >> If you struggle with difficult conversations, take this course where I help you handle the toughest conversations with confidence, balance empathy and assertiveness, and respond to the most difficult behaviors.
- 1-hour Effective Performance Coaching Course >> If you’re a manager looking for strategies to be better at coaching your employees, take this free 1 hour course to boost up your coaching ability
- Podcast: The Art and Science of Difficult Conversations. >> If you’re interested in more ways to manage difficult conversations, I also have a podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube
