Managing Conflict with Belbin

Conflict is essential for teams, but it has to be handled in the right way.

Belbin can help teams ‘argue better,’ addressing conflict constructively, building cohesion in the team and experiencing performance benefits.

How Do We Approach Conflict?

Many of us are conflict avoidant. Disagreements can produce physiological responses we don’t like – it can trigger our ‘fight or flight’ response.

We fall into the trap of thinking that all conflict is bad or dysfunctional – that it will seem unkind or hurt another’s feelings, that it will consume goodwill, time and energy without producing a valuable outcome. ‘High conflict’ distorts reality, creating an ‘us and them’ situation.

The Cost of Conflict Avoidance

Failure to process conflict causes untold problems for teams and businesses. They build what Harvard Business Review calls a ‘conflict debt’ – ‘the sum of all undiscussed and unresolved issues that stand in the way of progress’.

Another danger of always seeking agreement and harmony is that it can become difficult for people to speak up and dissent, so we miss the opportunity to stop and change course when we discover that something isn’t working.

When teams take the time to disagree, they often come up with more effective and mutually agreeable solutions than whatever was first considered. It encourages us to pull apart an idea and ensure that it stands up to scrutiny and merits further consideration.

By avoiding conflict, teams can become stuck in the ‘honeymoon phase’ which limits productivity and creativity and stunts growth.

“Clashes between parties are the crucibles in which creative solutions are developed and wise trade-offs among competing objectives are made.” 

Harvard Business Review

Is Conflict Good for Teams?

It may seem counterintuitive, but functional conflict can actually be good for teams. In fact, it’s crucial for effective teamwork. 

Professor J. Richard Hackman, a professor of social and organizational psychology at Harvard University, discovered that arguments were good for a team, so long as they were handled well and focused on the team’s objectives.

So-called ‘creative friction’ leads to better work outcomes – working on more creative, better- considered solutions, rather than settling for the first suggestion.

Conflict allows teams to acknowledge and synthesize diverse perspectives – this means greater inclusivity in the workplace, through the acknowledgement of diverse perspectives. This has an impact on the bottom line. Research has shown that, while homogenous groups rated their performance more highly, diverse groups were more successful in completing tasks.

Disagreements within the team provide opportunities for learning and growth. The more the team practises listening to, and integrating, feedback, the more it evolves.

Surprisingly enough, conflict also improves relationships and job satisfaction, because we gain a better understanding of our colleagues and what makes them tick, and because problems are addressed rather than being swept under the carpet.

Conflict Means Understanding Differences 

Ever noticed how often we talk about differences when it comes to conflict? We say that people ‘can’t get past their differences.’

When we use this kind of language, it could be that the disagreement at hand is not about one particular issue, but is bringing along a lot of ‘baggage,’ in terms of how particular people (or the team as a whole) have interacted in the past.

When a team keeps running into the same kinds of difficulties, the language of Belbin Team Roles can help to focus on the bigger picture – differences of objectives, approaches and mindsets.

This depersonalizes the conflict, allowing team members to see beyond the emotion of the moment and try and reframe the discussion in a way that will be helpful to the team and organization as a whole

Constructive Conflict

  •  What do we need for constructive conflict? Fostering the environment for constructive conflict in teams is a big ask. Conflict aversion is strong and it isn’t enough to tell people that disagreement is healthy and hope for the best. In order to use conflict effectively, we need the skills and mindset to do so.
  • Rules of engagement. Conflict rituals’ or commonly agreed rules of engagement can help people to engage with conflict in a constructive way. This might be specifying that people should go first to the person they have a problem with, that they should offer proposed solutions, or at which point to involve a third party as a mediator. This can make disagreements more of a process and remove some of the unknown elements from the equation.
  • Psychological safety. In order for people to argue effectively, psychological safety needs to be an integral part of the team’s make-up. Psychological safety is the idea that, in order to succeed, people in teams need to feel safe to take risks and make mistakes without fear of recrimination. Establishing psychological safety frees up time and cognitive energy so that the team can expend it on projects, rather than threats from within. Read more about using Belbin to establish psychological safety in teams.
  • A proactive approach. Rather than waiting for conflict over a particular issue to arise, take a proactive approach. This might involve identifying how people like to work, and where areas of misalignment or tension are likely to occur. Ask the team to provide ideas and feedback on tackling these differences and to devise strategies for handling them. This helps everyone with the identification process and gives them a vested interest in making the solutions work.

Team Role Approaches to Conflict

Each of us has a number of Team Role behaviors which we adopt most readily when working in a team.

Those Team Role strengths can influence how we approach conflict. For example, the thinking roles (Plant, Monitor Evaluator and Specialist) might enjoy the debate for its own sake.

Those with high Shaper strengths are likely to be amongst the most confrontational. They’re not afraid of conflict in the team, so long as it achieves a result. This can be a good antidote to a team who is coasting or full of people afraid to rock the boat.

Teamworkers, however, tend to avoid conflict, because they value interpersonal relationships with the team and don’t want to cause upset.

Those with opposite Team Role strengths can discover that they frequently come into conflict. The Resource Investigator’s enthusiasm and expedience can clash with the Completer Finisher’s attention to detail or fussiness. The Plant’s imaginative solutions and blue sky thinking might be tiresome to the Implementer’s practical mindset.

When addressing patterns of conflict within a team, it’s important to understand these dynamics, our own strengths, and the strengths of others in the team.

If the high Implementer knows that the Plant is bouncing ideas around, they can decide that their involvement isn’t needed until later and deploy the Monitor Evaluator to ensure that unworkable ideas don’t get past the vetting stage.

Of course, conflicts are still bound to arise, but Belbin helps us to understand an individual’s mindset and objectives, so that we can tackle conflict in the right way.

 

How Do the Belbin Reports Address Conflict? 

Conflict usually arises from misunderstanding or lack of communication. It can manifest itself in many ways. Lowered morale, reduced productivity and increases in absenteeism can all be strong indicators that something needs to be addressed.

The language of Belbin Team Roles can help in areas where discussions can too often include personal attacks on can often exacerbate the conflict.

Need Fresh Eyes?

Belbin Workshops Can Help Address Conflict Effectively

Sometimes unpicking dysfunctional conflict and building new foundations requires an outsider’s perspective.

Our experienced consultancy team is ready to design a workshop custom to your needs. We look at the issues that are specific to your organization and teams. Then, using the Belbin theory, we build a custom workshop specifically designed to address the issues that you are facing.

Using a Belbin facilitator ensures that everyone can participate and maximize their contribution. We facilitate sessions with teams at all levels, from boards of directors to new recruits.

Our Workshops Can Be Conducted Online Via the Platform of your Choice or Face-to-Face

If you’d like to find out about a workshop for your team, please complete the form below or contact us to get in touch. 

Want to Find Out More?

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Contact Us

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Toll-Free: (877) 333-3606
info@belbinnorthamerica.com

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Lindsay Lalla

Lindsay Lalla is the VP of Marketing and Client Support for Belbin North America. Most recently, she has been spearheading the introduction of the Belbin Team Role methodology into North America. Lindsay is a skilled facilitator, and also runs the Belbin Accreditation classes where she certifies others in the Belbin method.
Lindsay’s formal education is in instruction and performance. Combined with her 17 years of adult education experience, she brings a depth of understanding in how to deliver the highly experiential workshops that are a hallmark of the Belbin North America approach to education and organizational development.

Patrick Ballin

Patrick offers more than 25 years of experience with some of the most successful businesses in Europe as a consultant, change manager and executive coach.

He has helped many well-known organisations to get their ideas and projects off the ground by working with business leaders and their teams to optimise interaction, strategy and execution.
Patrick was Global Head of Supply Chain and Logistics Development for The Body Shop, an international retailer of ethical health and beauty products, and managed its change programme across 52 countries. In 2009, he set up the national redundancy coaching service, Rework, for the UK industry charity, Retail Trust. Patrick spent his earlier career with ACWL Group, one of the pioneering UK Apple Centres, where he was a divisional Director.
He holds an MA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, is a Visiting Lecturer for Brighton Business School, a Fellow of the RSA and coach for social enterprise incubator On Purpose.

Max Isaac

Max is the CEO of 3Circle Partners. He brings a depth of knowledge and experience from his career in general management and consulting in North America, England, Europe and Asia.
Max has assisted CEOs and senior leaders within client organizations with the design and implementation of Interaction Planning processes, team based organizational development programs and Lean Six Sigma initiatives.
Prior to moving into the field of organizational development, Max was the CFO for the Retail Division within The Molson’s Organization, where he took a lead role in growing the business to over $1 billion in revenues, doubling its size in four years through acquisitions and internal growth.
Max is co-author of Close The Interaction Gap, The Third Circle – Interactions That Drive Results, Setting Teams Up for Success and A Guide to Team Roles. He is also the contributing author of the Organizational Change sections of Mike George’s books Lean Six Sigma published in May 2002 and Lean Six Sigma for Service published in June 2003. Max is a registered CPA, CA in Canada. His undergraduate degree was earned at Witwatersrand University, South Africa.