We have two members of a team that are constantly arguing and it’s getting to a point now, where the other team members won’t work with them, and it’s impacting the team’s overall performance.  What can we do to sort this out?  

There are two kinds of conflict. Firstly, Healthy debate and discussion between people at work, is what I would called healthy conflict or challenge. This is the natural debate and argument about concepts and practices that leads to new ideas and ways of working, and their practical implementation. As long as this is done in a constructive and a respectful way, then this type of conflict is seen as positive.  

The second kind of conflict is destructive or negative conflict. This is the type of conflict you might see where people are openly arguing and disagreeing with something without being constructive, refusing to work with others simply because they “don’t like them” or actively refusing to adopt new ways of working. This type of conflict needs to be managed to reduce, or avoid, its impact on the morale and motivation of the team, its  performance and of course your image and reputation as a business. 

You need to decide which of these conflicts you have, and if it’s the destructive, negative type of  conflict, then you need to manage this with carefully, and with a planned and strategic approach.  

1. Talk to the person or people concerned privately about specific examples of their behaviour – the conflicts you have seen.  
2. Explain the impact that this is having on the team, your clients or customers, and that the impact isn’t acceptable.  
3. Ask them for their ideas and suggestions about how they can improve their behaviour.  
4. If they don’t have any ideas/suggestions, then you will need to have some ready to share with them! 
5. Agree an action plan for them to remedy their behaviour. 
6. Monitor their progress. Sit down with them on a regular basis to ensure they are sticking to what you’ve agreed. 
7. If not, this may need to become a disciplinary matter, which we can help and support you with. 
8. Or as an alternative to the steps above, you may decide to mediate between the different parties. We have seen great success with mediation, and work with a fantastic company called Pragmatism, who can support any mediation process you may need to go through. 

 Whatever the conflict situation, we can help and support you with advice, attendance at the meetings with employees to resolve conflict or where necessary, involve a skilled mediator. CONTACT US to discuss this together.