[4] Suggestions - How to deal with team conflict

How to keep disagreement from escalating into conflict

Members should openly discuss the importance of disagreement. Without disagreement, teams can fall into groupthink, or a tendency to blindly agree on issues without proper questioning. Team members sometimes fall into this trap to avoid conflict, but then fall into a larger one of making poor decisions. So disagreement and good argumentative discussion should be encouraged.

However, team members should also discuss when this disagreement crosses the line into open conflict that may be harmful to the team. 

Are there specific behaviors (red-faced finger pointing, for example) that fan the flames of conflict?

Are there issues that should be discussed that team members have been reluctant to address? Better to address them now than wait until they reach the boiling point.

Having a discussion about disagreement and conflict is an adult behavior. And team members will appreciate the opportunity to have this discussion and resolve in advance what could be a barrier to higher team performance.