The normal, inevitable tensions on a team

- When you think about addressing conflicts on your team, how do you feel? Do you dread the idea of helping your team navigate disagreements? Do you find having to spend time on team conflicts frustrating? If so, you're not alone. I hear from lots of managers that dealing with conflicts or interpersonal clashes is one of their least favorite responsibilities. But in fact, there are healthy, normal tensions that should exist on a team, and as a manager, you not only want to tolerate them, but encourage them. And by recognizing and naming those tensions, you can help your team depersonalize conflicts and productively engage in disagreements, rather than avoid them or having them get unnecessarily heated. So let's look at some common tensions that arise on teams. Speed versus quality. Inclusive decision-making versus efficient decision-making. Focus on the client or customer versus focus on the company. Emphasis on innovation versus leveraging existing capabilities. Details versus the big picture. Purpose or mission versus revenue. Let's talk about that first one. Speed versus quality. This is something I've experienced on many of the teams I've worked on. There's often someone who's incredibly efficient and super focused on meeting deadlines, which is a great thing but they'll often be at odds with someone who thinks we should be doing the highest quality work possible, no matter how much time it takes. That's a good tension to have. As long as those two people can navigate it professionally and productively, the project is likely to get done faster and be higher quality. If you're not careful though, the normal tensions in this scenario can turn into interpersonal conflicts, where one person is painted as careless and hasty and the other slow and obstructive. That's why you have to name the tensions. Take a moment now to think about which tensions come up most frequently on your team. Refer to the list I shared. Perhaps there are other tensions too. Write them down so that you can easily identify and name them when they arise. You also want to talk to your team about these tensions so they understand that when one comes up, they can name them themselves, whether you're in the room or not. Here are some tips for doing that. First, say it's okay. Tell your team that disagreements are expected and normal. In fact, they're an important part of collaboration, teamwork, and innovation. Then, call out the common tensions from the list you generated earlier. Name a few tensions that you observe on the team without assigning them them to specific people. Explain why it's good that these tensions exist. Also, ask the team if there are any tensions missing from that list. Consider keeping a running list of them in a shared document that people can refer to. Lastly, stay calm. When disagreements come up, try to model comfort and patience. Calmly say something like, "This feels like a tension between speed and quality. Do others see it that way?" As a leader, if you display comfort in these moments, your team will be more willing to engage in and even surface disagreements. This list can help you and your team understand where conflict comes from and the ways in which it's productive, which can keep it from bubbling over into interpersonal feuds. Tensions are inevitable but encouraging positive tensions can create an environment where people feel safe to voice their opinions and ideas, leading to better decisions and results.