The importance of conflict in organisations

Conflict can be seen as a negative thing to have in an organisation, but for executives, conflict is better than complacency.  

Amy Gallo, contributing editor at Harvard Business Review and workplace culture expert told Digital Nation said she is finding executives ask her about how to have “conflict” within their organisations.

At the WOBI Forum in Sydney, Gallo explained how executives can ensure their employees are more vocal. She said conflict doesn’t have to be fights or arguments but simply speaking out.

“[CEOs] will have employee surveys where people say they don't feel comfortable voicing their opinions or they know that everyone is agreeing in the meeting, but then having these back-channel conversations where they're expressing their discontent with how things are moving forward,” she explained,

“The question I get asked most is, how do I get people to speak up? How do I get people to say what's on their mind at the moment when it matters most?”

She used an example of one organisation where the executive team doesn’t want to process things in real-time because it is “too risky” to have the conflict in front of the CEO or the board president.

“They're often just having the friendly conversation and then later on, they'll all go individually to the CEO and say this is what's going on, or this is how I feel about this, and then they're expecting him to sort of resolve it all on their behalf instead of the real-time,” she explained.

Another “conflict” issue that Gallo sees is the two people on every team battling every time there is a meeting.

“How do I resolve that? And that requires a lot of coaching sometimes it requires shifting the responsibilities or even removing someone from a particular role, that's something else I hear a lot,” she said.

Perils of artificial harmony

Artificial harmony is when a leader in an organisation has made it clear it is not safe to speak up when issues arrive. This is a concept by Patrick Lencioni that he wrote about in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. 

Gallo said without that friction of debate and conflict a business will not make true progress.

“You're not going to make enough progress and so, as a leader, and especially as an executive, you want to be on the lookout for like the telltale signs,” she said.

“If everyone is nodding, smiling, it's problematic if you feel like you're only getting good news, that's a red flag.”

Gallo explained that to remove artificial harmony, executives should find employees who will be honest and upfront with them.

“Cultivate that person as someone who can bend your ear if they hear things going on, and try to tap into them to understand like ‘am I just hearing the sugar-coated version or are things genuinely going well?’,” she said.

Gallo said another tip is to better understand body language.

“Sometimes people will agree or they won't speak up, but then you see the sort of shifting or people catching one another's eyes,” she said.

“As someone who runs workshops with executive teams, I often will say, ‘something's going unsaid here, like who can tell me what's going on?’”

She urges executives to do the same.

“Sometimes even testing the waters of saying ‘I get the sense that the decision I made is pretty unpopular, is that the case?’ Trying to put it out there and will make it a little safer for people to speak up.”