Does your team get along great?
Do you always seem to agree with each other?
Do you have trouble remembering your last major team conflict?
This may seem strange, but if you answered yes to these questions…you’ve got problems. A team needs conflict to evolve.
Think of it as Darwin’s theory of evolution for business. If good ideas don’t crush bad ideas, and great ideas don’t crush good ideas, a business (and its employees) will grow stagnant and die.
Why do some teams have no conflict?
- Lack of direction – If a team has no clarity around their identity and direction, productive conflict is difficult. As the saying goes…”If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there”.
- Lack of talent – Meaningful challenges will rarely occur if you’re consistently the smartest person in the room. Successful teams need a complimentary assortment of strengths.
- Lack of trust – Challenges will be silenced unless your culture is one of trust and openness. Team members will be resistant to speaking up if they’re afraid of hurting each other’s feelings or jeopardizing their job.
So go ahead, have a good fight and evolve!
