♥️Resolving Team Conflict as Service Leaders

Teams should feel psychologically safe, supported through service, and self-organized. But how do Agile teams resolve conflict throughout the four stages of teamwork? Read more below.

Video Version

Credit: Tech Fleet https://youtu.be/A8UPOsGDxCw

Resolving Conflict is Key to Team Success

Team strength must be maintained through conflict resolution. The only way to support psychologically safe, self-organized environments is to hold space for respectful conflict resolution among teammates.

When we work together, many challenges can arise. Work challenges arise. Challenges with stakeholders arise. Challenges among teammates arise.

We are all people with different personalities, experiences, and skills. We must provide each other with psychologically safe spaces to be heard and disagree, to build consensus. Through this, we must resolve conflict together.

Our primary goal on Tech Fleet projects is to learn to work in cross-functional Agile teams. We prioritize growth over skills.

As service-focused leaders, we are all responsible for the success of our projects and our team cohesion. Even the apprentices. Even the co-leads.

Conflict Resolution Responsibilities for Team Members

We're all responsible for each others success, and for resolving conflict:

1. Conflict is not abuse. It's natural. It's needed. It should be confronted. We must be willing to treat conflicts as opportunities for growth, even when we feel like we’re not responsible.

2. We can’t change other people. We should always reflect on our part in team interactions. We should reflect on what we're contributing to conflict. Opportunities for growth and leadership come from learning how to work with people we don’t agree with, relate to, or even sometimes like. Through our understanding of what we're contributing to conversations, we can understand the other side. We can learn how to find ways for mutual benefit instead of demanding people align to our ways of thinking or behaving.

3. We operate with a mindset of service to others. As service leaders, we do not look for ways to police others, criticize, or blame. We help people play out scenarios themselves. We help them form their own conclusions on their own time. We are there in support and service to their growth, always. We are always looking to see how we can support others in productive, positive ways.
4. We live in the real world. Even though Tech Fleet is a collective, community-run organization, power dynamics still exist. It’s a good idea to notice where you have implicit power, whether because of your role on the project, your level of experience, your status in a cultural or societal context, or your comfort with English. We’re here to remove barriers to access and we always want to be mindful to be encouraging to those who may be facing obstacles, even if we didn’t ourselves impose the obstacles.