Hi there,
Team conflict. It happens.
It can feel scary when it does. 👻
Showing up to a video meeting to talk through unexpected team conflict can feel like walking into a haunted house. Unpredictable, confusing, + stressful.
⚡ Supercharge of the Week
Remote Octopus recommends spending several minutes at the top of a team conflict discussion to align on a common goal.
Why?
When a team faces a new conflict – such as confusion over ownership or a missed deadline – a call is often scheduled to process and identify next steps.
Quickly aligning on a common goal together ensures everyone is on the same page. One person or team might have a different perspective on what needs to be resolved. Everyone’s perspective is important as the team collaborates to identify their goal(s) together. Goals guide next steps.
For example, one team might see the conflict as a result of an outdated process while another team might be confused about lack of clarity on ownership for specific deliverables. Both of these situations might be contributing to the same conflict. And both of those teams would arrive focused on different goals. Through discussion, they can work towards alignment on a common goal.
Aligning and identifying on a common goal (or goals) sets a collaborative tone. Amidst conflict, it finds common ground on which to further build the conversation.
Without common ground, you often find teams talking over each other or working towards siloed goals simultaneously – which inevitably leads to further conflict down the road.
EXAMPLE IN ACTION
Hi everyone, thank you for hopping on this call to talk through our confusion this week. Let’s take a few minutes to align on our common goal to resolve today.
Arvind, can you share details from the Eng side? [Arvind shares]
Amiko, can you share details from the Product side? [Amiko shares]
… It sounds like our common goal might be to improve clarity on who owns Confluence page updates, does that sound right?
Once your common goal is established, you’re ready to dive into collaborative next steps.
👻 Quick Note: Some haunted houses are scarier than others + some conflict conversations are trickier than others. In these tough conversations, there might be strong misalignment right off the bat on the common goal. If this happens, consider what additional context or perspectives might be helpful to gather in order to move the team towards alignment. It also often helps to identify a collaborative quick win that the team can work towards in the interim.
👀 ICYMI
🐙 Remote Octopus Resources
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