World's Simplest Management Secret

Forget what you learned in those management books. There's really only one way to ensure that everyone on your team excels.

Management books have it all wrong. They all try to tell you how to manage "people."

It's impossible to manage "people"; it's only possible to manage individuals. And because individuals differ from one another, what works with one individual may not work with somebody else.

Some individuals thrive on public praise; others feel uncomfortable when singled out.

Some individuals are all about the money; others thrive on challenging assignments.

Some individuals need mentoring; others find advice to be grating.

The trick is to manage individuals the way that THEY want to be managed, rather than the way that YOU'd prefer to be managed.

The only way to do this is to ASK.

In your first (or next) meeting with each direct report ask:

• How do you prefer to be managed?
• What can I do to help you excel?
• What types of management annoy you?

Listen (really listen) to the response and then, as far as you are able, adapt your coaching, motivation, compensation, and so forth to match that individual's needs.

BTW, a savvy employee won't wait for you to ask; he or she will tell you outright what works. When this happens, you're crazy not to take that employee's advice!

Unfortunately, most individuals aren't that bold, which is why it's up to you to find out how to get the best out of them.

And you'll never get that out of a management book.

There is no one-size-fits-all in a world where everyone is unique.

Nerf guns don't matter

Free soda does not a good company culture make

I'm seeing it more and more--job descriptions with perks about nerf gunsand happy hour, or new grads who joined a startup and are bragging aboutping pong tables and free coke. This is apparently something that people see as a fun culture, a sign that this is a place you'd enjoy working at and has people you'd enjoy working with.

This stuff doesn't matter.

A fun distraction is still a distraction

This stuff is all stuff you do when you're not working. When you have a few minutes to spare here and there and are bored and want to have fun. It's recreation. It's a distraction from work. It's not going to make you more productive, or make you happier with the work you have to do, or the people you have to work with.

In fact, it might make you less happy with those things. Suddenly the work you have to do, which could and should be fun and challenging if you're in the right field, is just a necessary evil to spend a few hours on before the next game of ping pong. You're not at work to play around, you're at work to get crap done, but if you spend long enough in an environment like this, then the work becomes the distraction and the nerf guns and happy hour become the thing you look forward to and are excited about.

This will not help your productivity and certainly won't make doing actual work any more enjoyable.

Keeping work and play separate

Lots of people seem to love bragging about working hard and playing hard, and it's a pretty common attitude that working with people you can go play laser tag with and be friends with is a big win. I'm going to disagree.

I'd like for people at work to judge me based on my work, not on how good I am at pool or how well I can handle my alcohol. I'd rather they didn't know any of those things, because it just distracts from what you're there to do. I don't want to have to deal with the drunken argument last Friday night at the bar when I'm working Monday morning. I don't want someone I work with to be bummed out with me because I didn't want to hang out on Saturday since I have a family.

Trying to enforce a culture where people are all friends with each other and go out drinking together and watch movies together does not make anyone any happier when they're working, it just creates more opportunities for drama and biases.

What really matters

It's easy to throw some toys into the office and call it your culture. Actually creating a good, positive, productive culture is much, much harder than that.

Do your employees feel heard when they have suggestions or questions? Do your managers do a good job of keeping track of budgets and focus without micromanaging and getting on everyone's nerves? Do people have a solid method of critiquing each others work and providing helpful feedback without hurting any feelings? Does everyone feel challenged and interested in the work they're doing?

These are the things that produce a good culture, and these are the things to strive for, and these are things that you can't buy at Target or brag about on job descriptions, but they're the things that keep people around and working hard and happy.

How to Deal with Team Member Personalities

It only takes one difficult personality on a team to make the team unproductive and the team environment unpleasant for everyone else. There are ways to deal with these team members and hopefully get them back to being a constructive member of the team.

With proper guidance and coaching these bad apples can be shined up into good team members. There are always a few who do not turn around and for those there is always progressive discipline.

The Overly Talkative Team Member

This is usually a person who is one of four types.

1. An “eager beaver”
2. A show-off
3. Very knowledgeable and is anxious to show it off
4. Someone who does not recognize the responses of others in order to check their own behavior, (they can’t take the cue they are annoying).

How to Deal With Them

At times humor can be used to discourage people from dominating a discussion. be sure when the person stops talking you direct the conversation to another person. If the person’s behavior can’t be changed subtly, one member of the group should speak to the person privately and explain that while his/her enthusiasm is appreciated, it’s only fair to the whole group that every person gets an equal amount of air time.

The Quiet Team Member

This person my just be shy, bored, tired or unsure of themselves. Whatever the reason you may have someone who can contribute, but is not.

How to Deal With Them

Make a special effort to draw this person out: ask for their opinion on something; ask them something about themselves; tell the person you appreciate their participation. Slowing drawing them out into the open like this can unleash their potential contributions.

The Arguing Team Member

This is a person who is critical of ideas, the team and other team members. For whatever reason they disrupt the positive flow by arguing points. They may think they are a know-it-all who only thinks their way is the right way. They may feel under appreciated so they put down everyone else.

How to Deal With Them

If the person is critical of ideas, use that response to test the work the team is doing to see if this person is actually providing good feedback. If they are critical of others, tell them the effect that is having on both the team or individual team members. Be explicit about the fact that their behavior is harmful to the overall goals of the team.

The Complaining Team Member

This type of team member seems to have a pet peeve about everything. They may even complain just for the sake of complaining. Whatever deeply seated the roots of their behavior it is disruptive and leads to an unproductive team.

How to Deal With Them

Listen to the person’s complaint and if it is legitimate, set aside time to solve the problem. Point out that part of their work is to learn how to solve problems and that complaining does not offer constructive comment towards solving the problem. Ask the person to join with you to improve whatever is disturbing them.

Take Away

For a team to properly function as a team morale and professionalism are important. Your team does not have to be a bunch of choir boys, but they need to be productive members of the team. It only takes one bad personality type to disrupt the team chemistry.

Dealing with these four types is often as simple as sitting down and talking with them. They may not be aware that their behavior is an issue. You need to confront these people right away before it create a larger issue. Follow-up with coaching to be sure they stay on track.

7 tips to manage your boss -- and yourself

(MoneyWatch)  

Sometimes I think employees think their bosses are all-knowing and all-seeing, like a divine being or Santa Claus. They're not. They're regular flesh and blood people, just like you and me. And they've got bigger things to worry about than you. Not only that, but the reverse is also true. At least it should be.

When employee and boss don't see eye to eye (istockphoto)

People focus way too much on their bosses. Probably the most common dynamic is when the boss, employee or both are dysfunctional. The more dysfunctional, the more disproportionate the focus. We have micromanaging bosses, but we also have lots of employees that overload their bosses with unnecessary and unwanted information, communication and attention.

In some ways, it reminds me of children with alcoholic or abusive parents. In the name of survival, kids learn warning signs to watch out for. But the workplace is different because you're an adult with adult responsibilities and adult choices. Your boss isn't your whole world, even at work. At least he shouldn't be.

If you find that you're thinking, worrying or stressing about your boss an alarming amount, I can almost guarantee that she's not ecstatic about the relationship either. Here are seven tips to try before you end up shooting yourself in the foot, going off the deep end, or doing irreparable harm to your relationship, reputation and career.

Remember why they pay you: to do your job. People often get confused about the whole boss thing. If you're in a company bigger than, say, 10 people, you don't really work for your boss, you work for the company. You were hired and you're paid to do a job. So focus on doing it and doing it well.

Take the initiative. Executives and managers don't just like it when employees take the initiative to solve big problems and get things done -- they love it. Thus the expression, it's sometimes better to ask for forgiveness than permission. I like to say, "What your boss doesn't know won't hurt you." It's usually true.

Focus on yourself. If there's an issue between you and your boss, there's a 50-50 chance that it's you. And, between the two of you, you're better off focusing on yourself rather than your boss. The reason is simple. You can't control or change your boss; you can only control or change you. Tolstoy wrote: "Everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself." Smart guy, that Tolstoy.

Give your boss what he needs to do his job -- no more, no less. Of course, there are micromanaging control freaks who should probably see a shrink. But oftentimes, bosses micromanage because they're not getting what they need to do their jobs effectively or they're concerned that you're not cutting it. The best thing to do is ask what's going on and what he needs. Then give it to him -- no more, no less. 

Why your boss doesn't always listen to you
Busting the bad boss myth

Have periodic one-on-one meetings. If you have weekly one-on-one meetings with your boss, you should be able to cover everything that needs to be covered and then be on your way. That often relieves a lot of the disruptive ad-hoc communication and unnecessary fire drills.

Get advice from someone who knows your boss better than you do. If you're really befuddled about how to work with your boss, ask somebody who knows him well. I once had a CEO who was micromanaging and it was driving me crazy. Him, too. So I asked the president who had worked closely with him for many years and, lo and behold, he told me what I needed to know. We had a great relationship after that. No kidding.

Be open and honest...with yourself. If things aren't working out, then maybe it's time to move on. Sure, it's a tough job market, so that may take a while, but it's almost always for the better and you'll both be relieved once the dust settles. Of course, you can try to wait him out, but you may end up getting fired, in which case you'll be leaving on her terms, not yours. Something to consider.

8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees

Forget good to great. Here's what makes a great employee remarkable.

shutterstock images

Great employees are reliable, dependable, proactive, diligent, great leaders and great followers... they possess a wide range of easily-defined—but hard to find—qualities.

A few hit the next level. Some employees are remarkable, possessing qualities that may not appear on performance appraisals but nonetheless make a major impact on performance.

Here are eight qualities of remarkable employees:

1. They ignore job descriptions. The smaller the company, the more important it is that employees can think on their feet, adapt quickly to shifting priorities, and do whatever it takes, regardless of role or position, to get things done.

When a key customer's project is in jeopardy, remarkable employees know without being told there's a problem and jump in without being asked—even if it's not their job.

2. They’re eccentric... The best employees are often a little different: quirky, sometimes irreverent, even delighted to be unusual. They seem slightly odd, but in a really good way. Unusual personalities shake things up, make work more fun, and transform a plain-vanilla group into a team with flair and flavor.

People who aren't afraid to be different naturally stretch boundaries and challenge the status quo, and they often come up with the best ideas.

3. But they know when to dial it back. An unusual personality is a lot of fun... until it isn't. When a major challenge pops up or a situation gets stressful, the best employees stop expressing their individuality and fit seamlessly into the team.

Remarkable employees know when to play and when to be serious; when to be irreverent and when to conform; and when to challenge and when to back off. It’s a tough balance to strike, but a rare few can walk that fine line with ease.

4. They publicly praise... Praise from a boss feels good. Praise from a peer feels awesome, especially when you look up to that person.

Remarkable employees recognize the contributions of others, especially in group settings where the impact of their words is even greater.

5. And they privately complain. We all want employees to bring issues forward, but some problems are better handled in private. Great employees often get more latitude to bring up controversial subjects in a group setting because their performance allows greater freedom.

Remarkable employees come to you before or after a meeting to discuss a sensitive issue, knowing that bringing it up in a group setting could set off a firestorm.

6. They speak when others won’t. Some employees are hesitant to speak up in meetings. Some are even hesitant to speak up privately.

An employee once asked me a question about potential layoffs. After the meeting I said to him, “Why did you ask about that? You already know what's going on.” He said, “I do, but a lot of other people don't, and they're afraid to ask. I thought it would help if they heard the answer from you.”

Remarkable employees have an innate feel for the issues and concerns of those around them, and step up to ask questions or raise important issues when others hesitate.

7. They like to prove others wrong. Self-motivation often springs from a desire to show that doubters are wrong. The kid without a college degree or the woman who was told she didn't have leadership potential often possess a burning desire to prove other people wrong.

Education, intelligence, talent, and skill are important, but drive is critical. Remarkable employees are driven by something deeper and more personal than just the desire to do a good job.

8. They’re always fiddling. Some people are rarely satisfied (I mean that in a good way) and are constantly tinkering with something: Reworking a timeline, adjusting a process, tweaking a workflow.

Great employees follow processes. Remarkable employees find ways to make those processes even better, not only because they are expected to… but because they just can't help it.

9 Things That Motivate Employees More Than Money

Don't show 'em the money (even if you have it). Here are nine better ways to boost morale.

By Ilya Pozin |  @ilyaNeverSleeps   | Nov 28, 2011

The ability to motivate employees is one of the greatest skills an entrepreneur can possess. Two years ago, I realized I didn’t have this skill. So I hired a CEO who did.

Josh had 12 years in the corporate world, which included running a major department at Comcast. I knew he was seasoned, but I was still skeptical at first. We were going through some tough growing pains, and I thought that a lack of cash would make it extremely difficult to improve the company morale.

I was wrong.

With his help and the help of the great team leaders he put in place, Josh not only rebuilt the culture, but also created a passionate, hard-working team that is as committed to growing and improving the company as I am. 

Here are nine things I learned from him:

1. Be generous with praise. Everyone wants it and it’s one of the easiest things to give. Plus, praise from the CEO goes a lot farther than you might think. Praise every improvement that you see your team members make. Once you’re comfortable delivering praise one-on-one to an employee, try praising them in front of others.  
2. Get rid of the managers. Projects without project managers? That doesn’t seem right! Try it. Removing the project lead or supervisor and empowering your staff to work together as a team rather then everyone reporting to one individual can do wonders. Think about it. What’s worse than letting your supervisor down? Letting your team down! Allowing people to work together as a team, on an equal level with their co-workers, will often produce better projects faster. People will come in early, stay late, and devote more of their energy to solving problems.  
3. Make your ideas theirs. People hate being told what to do. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea. “I’d like you to do it this way” turns into “Do you think it’s a good idea if we do it this way?”  
4. Never criticize or correct. No one, and I mean no one, wants to hear that they did something wrong. If you’re looking for a de-motivator, this is it. Try an indirect approach to get people to improve, learn from their mistakes, and fix them. Ask, “Was that the best way to approach the problem? Why not? Have any ideas on what you could have done differently?” Then you’re having a conversation and talking through solutions, not pointing a finger.  
5. Make everyone a leader. Highlight your top performers’ strengths and let them know that because of their excellence, you want them to be the example for others. You’ll set the bar high and they’ll be motivated to live up to their reputation as a leader.  
6. Take an employee to lunch once a week. Surprise them. Don’t make an announcement that you’re establishing a new policy. Literally walk up to one of your employees, and invite them to lunch with you. It’s an easy way to remind them that you notice and appreciate their work.  
7. Give recognition and small rewards. These two things come in many forms: Give a shout out to someone in a company meeting for what she has accomplished. Run contests or internal games and keep track of the results on a whiteboard that everyone can see. Tangible awards that don’t break the bank can work too. Try things like dinner, trophies, spa services, and plaques. 
8. Throw company parties. Doing things as a group can go a long way. Have a company picnic. Organize birthday parties. Hold a happy hour. Don’t just wait until the holidays to do a company activity; organize events throughout the year to remind your staff that you’re all in it together.
9. Share the rewards—and the pain. When your company does well, celebrate. This is the best time to let everyone know that you’re thankful for their hard work. Go out of your way to show how far you will go when people help your company succeed. If there are disappointments, share those too. If you expect high performance, your team deserves to know where the company stands. Be honest and transparent.

Managing Team Conflict by Cynthia Phillips

Purpose of this Paper

• Describe the nature of conflict in teams
• Define types of conflict and describe how each manifests in a team
• Identify reasons why team members struggle with conflict
• Describe how a team leader can manage conflict within the team
• Summarize my key learning, with recommendation for an intervention that may work in a group conflict situation

Introduction
It is commonplace for organizations today to work in teams. Whether they be leader-driven teams or self-directed teams; the hope is that productivity, creativity, and results will be greater in a team environment. While this is a proven approach, any time you bring together people from differing backgrounds and experiences, it is inevitable that conflict will occur.

Many people and organizations view conflict as a negative, or something to be avoided. Yet conflict, differences, or disagreements are a natural result of people working together. Also, without conflict, teams can become complacent and not perform at optimum levels. The challenge then becomes, how should the team be prepared for this stage of their existence, and how should the team leader facilitate through it?

Types of Conflict
"Conflict arises from the clash of perceptions, goals, or values in an arena where people care about the outcome" (Alessandra, 1993, p. 92). If the management of that conflict is not effective, it can totally disrupt the entire group process. However the old saying "that which does not kill us will make us stronger" illustrates how successfully managed conflict can benefit the group.

The paragraph above illustrates why conflict is often termed either functional or dysfunctional. Functional conflict is at a level that enables a group to maximize it's performance, and the outcomes are desirable. However; when that conflict escalates to a level that disrupts the group and gets in the way of accomplishing its goals, then it has become dysfunctional. Managing that balance is the key to effective groups. Another way to categorize conflict is by focusing on its origin. How the conflict has evolved is clearly an indicator of whether it will help or hinder the group process. Some common sources of group conflict are listed in Cappozzoli (1995) and Alessandra (1993):

• Values of team members
• Attitudes of team members
• Goals/Expectations - the processes and expected outcomes
• Roles and responsibilities of team members
• Limited resources
• Personalities
• Interdependency
• Increased interaction (frequency)

Allen C. Amason, of Mississippi State University, has studied conflict and its role in decision-making. He suggests there are two types of conflict: (These actually trace back to the sources listed above.)

Cognitive - conflict aimed at issues, ideas, principles, or process

Affective - conflict aimed at people, emotions, or values

His studies showed the presence of both types in any group setting; but he's clear to explain that cognitive conflict is constructive, while affective is destructive (Brockmann, 1996).
Another researcher, Thomas K. Capozzoli (1995), reinforces this by describing the outcomes of constructive and destructive conflict:

Constructive conflicts exists when…

1. People change and grow personally from the conflict
2. The conflict results in a solution to a problem
3. It increase involvement of everyone affected by the conflict
4. It builds cohesiveness among the members of the team

Destructive conflicts exists when…

1. No decision is reached and problem still exists
2. It diverts energy away from more value-add activities
3. It destroys the morale of the team members
4. It polarizes or divides the team

Team Member Preparation
As mentioned above, teams are a powerful force in organizations. They are assembled to tackle complex and strategic issues within a company. Often the membership is a select group of people from different departments, each with special skills or talents to solve a particular problem. However; what is often lacking is training in the core competencies of working on a team. "In order for a team to be successful, it is essential that members know the basics of conflict resolution, delegation, and consensus building" (Convey, 1994, p. 13). Without these skills, each member must rely on whatever they've learned on their own, or the facilitator's skills in moving the team through these struggles. This is not an ideal way to manage teams, and reduces the synergistic benefits of team-based activities.

Every organization or group should develop a strategy for training and preparing team members for group process. One example that I found to be a good model was an initiative at Monmouth University (Gahr, 1995). It involved the Student Life organization -the Program Director, the staff, the administration, and the students. They used training to proactively manage conflict, and the results were positive. Here's a brief overview of the training phases they used:

Stage 1 - conflict resolution awareness- overview, examples, stimulated need to change and learn.

Stage 2 - conflict resolution training- workshops to learn skills and techniques for managing situations of conflict.

Stage 3 - mediation training- aimed at selected leaders of each segment of the population, that would become certified mediators, and provide future support.

Stage 4 - reinforcement workshops- informal sessions to perpetuate the concepts and continue improving people's awareness and ability to manage conflict.

Stage 5 - institutionalization of the program- assignment of the on-going support, maintenance, and mediation services to specific organization.

I think the Monmouth University project has three key ingredients that should be a part of any group skills training. First, it trains everyone- group members and group leaders. Without that, you have not given everyone the tools to help the process. Second, it focuses on what conflict is, and how to manage it. This gives the participants some skills to not only recognize conflict, but to also take action. Lastly, it has reinforcement built in. These are not easy skills to learn, so continual repetition is critical to truly internalizing them.

Team Leader's Role in Managing Conflict
"Conflicts are part of individual relationships and organizational development, and no relationship or organization can hope to mature to productivity and be successful without being able to resolve conflicts effectively" (Cottringer, 1997, p. 6). Clearly, one of the main responsibilities of any manager or group leader is to resolve conflict. The two key goals for a group leader are to remain impartial, and to facilitate understanding among the group members.

"As a team leader, one must realize the paradox that surrounds conflict. The team needs to embrace conflict as a means of generating and evaluating ideas. While at the same time, it must shy away from it to prevent anger, frustration, or alienation. The biggest challenge for the team leader is figuring out how to balance these two forces" (Brockmann, 1996, p. 61).

Preventative Strategies
The first step in conflict management is learning how to prevent or minimize conflict. A team leader has several ways to do that. Here are just a few: (Parker, 1994) At the beginning of each project, or each meeting, ground rules should be developed. These should incorporate processes or behaviors that the group will allow or prohibit. Ground rules can be useful because as conflict arises, the leader can refer the team back to them for guidance. These tend to be good objective guidelines that remove the leader from the role of enforcer.

Another technique is to develop a team agreement on how the group will resolve conflict if it does occur. This gets them to focus on good resolution behaviors, and prepares the team with a process that is available if necessary.

As mentioned previously, training in conflict resolution or communication skills would be invaluable to a team. It would be preferable if the team could attend this training as a group.

Finally, it is important to focus on goals of the team early in the process. Often times conflict arises from goal mis-alignment, and if this is uncovered and cleared up early, then it could minimize problems later. If new members are added to the team, then it would be beneficial to re-visit this exercise again.

Reactive Strategies
There are many ways for a team leader to facilitate the resolution of conflict. Every situation is different, and often a combination of techniques is required. Here are a few examples of theories or suggestions that I found interesting: (Cottringer, 1997)

CONFLICT
RESOLUTION
STRATEGY

DEFINITION
BEST TIME TO USE LEADER
EXECUTION TECHNIQUES

Acting Exercising an authoritarian approach, simply tell the group what the resolution will be. Resolves it quickly and without discussion. Emergency situations or when emotions are high and issues will require widespread unpopular decisions. Think through any expected negative fallout ahead of time and have a contingency plan. Tell people calmly and directly what you are going to do- no hesitation or confusion.

Adjusting Splitting differences, exchanging concessions, or give and take to reach a middle ground. Good when a quick, temporary solution is needed for a complex issue. It merges very different opinions or perspectives quickly. Often a third party mediator is effective negotiating the gives and takes of all parties. End the mediation by summarizing, gaining commitments, and setting up future check points in the plan.

Accommodating Sacrificing self concerns in yielding to another person. Most valuable when one person has more vested in the outcome, when one person is wrong, or when there may be more to gain later. Requires getting one person to see their wrong, either through proof or humor. Need to separate thoughts from feelings, and clearly identify how one person's giving in is right, beneficial, and thank them for it.

Avoiding Withdrawing, sidestepping or postponing the issue. Most effective when importance of issue is low, when the conflict is a symptom of a bigger issue, or when time alone will bring about a natural outcome. Good question here- what if I do nothing- what's the worst that could happen? Always explain why you are not doing anything-let them know that it is meant for a time out or cool off, and when you expect to deal with the issue.

Many researchers of conflict resolution suggest using a step-by-step process. This enables the leader to follow a systematic approach to resolving a conflict. Comparing this type of approach to the one in the last section, I believe this method would take more time. However; if that time is available, it might be a more effective method. In fact, it may be useful after one of the other strategies is used to fix the immediate situation. Here is a summary of the various step-by-step theories I found in my research:

STEP BY STEP PROCESS
1. Set up an environment that all parties know the goal is to resolve
2. Make sure all parties want to resolve it
3. All parties must accept the conflict as a mutual problem- not win/lose
4. Explore the reasons for the conflict
5. Generate solution options
6. Involved parties must agree on which solution is most appropriate
7. Implement the selected solution
8. Evaluate the success/failure of the solution
9. Celebrate or go back to #6

Key Learning
I chose this topic because as a team leader, I am constantly faced with conflicts, large and small, within the groups I manage. However, I was raised without much conflict, so as a result I have a tendency to avoid it. As my research pointed out, this could get in my way of being an effective leader. My goal in doing this research was to learn and equip myself with some knowledge to be effective at conflict management. I think I accomplished my goal!

In my teams, I see the two main causes of conflict to be interdependence among team members, and inconsistent goals. The interdependence is the hardest for me to manage. In fact, this theory really made sense to me, as I thought about growing up. I never experienced much conflict as a child, and I think it was because as an only child, my parents and I were very independent. In a different family structure, one with several children, I can see where the interdependence would cause conflict. I see that family as a team, and the interdependence as a natural extension of any team.

The conflict management strategies that I think could help the interdependence conflict are ground rules, and a conflict resolution process. Also, some team building exercises that demonstrate how each team member has input to the final outcome. An example would be puzzle building exercises, where everyone has a piece, or any survival exercise that all members must live for the team to survive.

Trust is also critical to this type of conflict, so any means of developing better trust levels within the group would also be effective here. One source I read noted that in conflict situations, team members will never trust each other, but they can be trained ahead of time to trust the conflict resolution process.

The second cause I want to be prepared for is the goal mis-alignment. I experience this frequently with my teams because most are cross-functional, and each organization they represent has different goals. As a result, each team member may approach our project with a different commitment, different timeline, or even with a hidden agenda of some type.

I'm not sure this situation is preventable, but I think there are some ways to manage it. One absolute for me is going to be developing a "goal statement" at the beginning of the project. Also, as team members change, it will be reviewed and revisited. Having this will enable me to refer back to it when conflicts arise that are unrelated, or if the group slows down and is not moving toward the goal.

One particular intervention I thought would be helpful during any stage of a project would be to review the original goal with the team, and then ask each team member to evaluate the team performance up to that point. Then take each of their comments and board them for group review. I believe this would surface some of the obstacles or frustrations that exist, and it would come from the team, not the team leader (I think it's more effective when the team identifies it's own problems.) As a follow up, the team could brainstorm how to resolve each problem and develop an agreement to move ahead.

Overall, it's clear to me now that conflict is a natural part of group work. It can be a tremendous source of creativity, and at the same time it can sidetrack a team. What makes the difference is having group members, and a group leader that understands and manages conflict effectively.

http://www.chumans.com/human-systems-resources/managing-team-conflict.html