How to deal with conflicts
within a team? If we go right back to basics, literally
right back to basics, I’d suggest a couple of days
working with the S. D. I. tool, originally created by
Dr Elias Porter. It looks at people’s motivational
value systems.
What makes me feel good about me – what makes
me want to do what I do?
When you understand that there are different people
doing things differently, clients say it’s literally
like turning on a light – you can see why they
have conflict with people. Again I’m using the
soft conflict, the unwarranted conflict - why some people
like to say ‘hello’ in a corridor and others
don’t. It’s not right or wrong; it’s
just different. It’s not about you; it’s
about the other person.
So we go right back to basics, right back to what turns
you on, what juices you up, why do you do what you do,
how do you do it, how do you feel about it. A simple
question is ‘At the end of a day, what makes you
feel good about the day?’ Someone will say ‘Well
it’s because I bought in this great sale – I
went out, I had a huge challenge, I fought for it and
I got the contract, brilliant’.
Somebody else might say ‘Because I sat in my office
quietly all day and read a reference book on how to set
up a new office system which will save people time and
money’. Completely different, completely opposing
views or preferences and yet both valuable in a team.
And if you go back to realise that you actually need
these people in a team, so a very good salesman out on
the road will make no money if the orders that he writes
or she writes are not processed. If the orders are not
processed, the person in the warehouse cannot pick the
product, in simple terms, off the shelf and pack it.
If the person doesn’t pick and pack it, it can’t
get posted. If it doesn’t get posted, it cannot
arrive at the end-user’s desk. If it does not arrive
at the end-user’s desk, he or she will not write
a cheque and the salesman does not get his commission.
So you may feel like you’re an individual out on
the road but in fact you are still in a team and you
need all those people in that team to be successful,
and they may not even know each other, so it’s
all these things, of course the salesman might say well,
I’m the best thing since sliced bread – if
I don’t sell you guys don’t have a job. True,
but if the guys don’t pick and pack it, or post
it, you don’t have any commission.
Now, how does that feel? So there are lots of things
going on with conflict with views, with relationships.
So we go back to the S D I, look at how different people
do different things and actually appreciate that we need
those differences within a team.
You do get certain types who will be doing different
things, in a big company, you need those differences.
S D I helps with that, you look at why people do what
they do . We have tools to help people understand.
Once you understand it you can start doing something
about it, make the other person a starting point and
I guarantee you success.
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