You're out to dinner together. You like ice cream, your partner likes cherry pie. It can be as simple as that. Then the busy, active, judgement mind takes over. [Voice1 in the head]: "How could he possibly like vanilla ice cream? Yuk! I hate ice cream." [and Voice2]: "What an idiot! Goopy cherry pie? Really?"
And thus is sown the seed for conflict. Worse yet, some folks are deeply uncomfortable about discussing the difference of opinion, or disagreement for fear that they might offend the other person, injure the relationship, or otherwise create an unpleasant circumstance. In the workplace, this avoidance of conflict on teams can often lead to sub-optimal solutions, inertia--or, worse yet--resentment and brooding. Imagine if the ice cream and cherry pie couple above dared to try pie a la mode?
The best work in this area is described by Pat Lencioni in his best-selling book: "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team". For anyone who is striving to develop a well-functioning and high performing team, I strongly recommend that you read the Five Dysfunctions. You and your team will never be the same. Enjoy the journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment