Get Your Team to Stop Fighting and Start Working

4 Jul 2010 Sandeep Mehta

Here is a quick little best practice reminder from HBR for the weekend: Get Your Team to Stop Fighting and Start WorkingSkepticism and questioning are part of the R&D environment.  However, they could lead to conflict – especially in virtual teams.  Managers would do well to follow this advice from HBR:

Intervene early. When two or more team members are engaged in a conflict, the sooner you step in the better. Once the dispute starts, emotions can run high, making it harder to diffuse the situation. Letting conflicts fester can result in hurt feelings and lasting resentment. Boyatzis points out that a simple disagreement can turn into a serious conflict in milliseconds, so it’s critical for team managers to be aware of the team dynamics and sense when a disagreement is percolating.

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