What Is It?
Project pressure, personalities, and reorganization often lead to conflicts in teams. Conflict Management (CFM) attempts to detect emerging conflicts as early as possible, solve them and start preventive measures for the future.
Who Does It?
It is wise to evaluate team members’ personalities and choice best suited as prospective moderator of conflict solutions. Second option is external stakeholders. The last, and in crisis situations the only solution, are professional psychologists.
Why Is It Important?
Conflicts bipolarize the project fate. They may revolutionize the procedures (positive case) or (unfortunately most common case), they are contra productive. Worst case team get checkmated – crisis and complete paralyses spread around. Being well prepared we can act timely and mitigate the effects.
What Are the Steps?
Verify and close pending process improvements and tasks. Check for conflict symptoms, be open for hints. Approach each conflict. If the team is in crisis – call professional psychologist. Learn and set preventive measures for the future. After verifying all roles check if Change Request or Knowledge Management shall be addressed.
What Is the Work?
Conflict solutions take a lot of time and energy. Each single cause of conflict has to be evaluated and agreed by both conflict parties. Then each solution – the same way. Lastly the choice of an acceptable solution for all parties and securing its sustainability takes time, too.
How Do I Ensure That I Have Done It Right?
Choose the moderator, preferably from inside team with qualities making him acceptable to conflict sides. He should talk first individually, then together with each party. Each party shall evaluate the possible strategies and choose its position. Only cooperative approach both sides truly works in projects. Agreed solution has to be set with check date. Upon reaching agreement, pleasant thoughts are mandatory to fix it.
