Think back to a place you’ve worked where everyone got along and everyone agreed about how everything should be done. Of course, you won’t be able to come up with any such place as it doesn’t exist. Even the most high-functioning and affable teams experience conflict, and that conflict is necessary for growth and improvement. When team members keep concerns, ideas, and issues to themselves, the workplace becomes stagnant. Companies benefit from having team members with a diverse set of skills who can think independently and bring different viewpoints to the table; it helps disrupt groupthink and foster creativity, allowing for better problem-solving capabilities.
Effective conflict resolution results in building trust, promoting open communication, and reaching compromise. The goal is to improve work processes in a way that results in solutions that are advantageous for all parties. Here are some guidelines for using conflict to your team’s advantage.
Always make constructive conflict the goal, as opposed to destructive conflict.
Constructive conflict involves a focus on mutual understanding and solutions. It aims to build understanding through open and honest communication and a resolving of disagreements through mutually beneficial outcomes. It is solutions-oriented and focuses on facts and resolutions. When everyone feels that their ideas have been considered and addressed, it results in a win-win situation. This takes flexibility and creativity, requiring each team member to put the needs of the team above their own, which is not always easy.
Destructive conflict is characterized by personal attacks, frustration, a lack of open communication and a focus on “winning” instead of bettering the team. Results of destructive conflict can include anger, bitterness, or lingering resentment.
When you embrace constructive conflict instead of avoiding conflict altogether, you make more balanced and informed decisions and encourage idea generation and innovative thinking. Being able to see a problem from different angles helps to generate unique solutions to problems.
Open Communication Builds Trust
Trust among team members is built when they are transparent and there is an open forum for the sharing of ideas and opinions. This involves having a mutual respect for the skills of others, a focus on the merits of their ideas and an acknowledgement and appreciation for each team member’s contributions. Open communication requires using specific, detailed language as opposed to vague language or generalizations. Brainstorming, collaboration, and finding a common ground/goal all result in positive growth.
Being a fairly “solo” profession, truck driving doesn’t always include frequent team interactions, but you are part of a team in the sense that you are relying on others in the organization to do their jobs so you can do yours. When your job relies on others, conflicts do arise, even when you’re not directly interacting. Further, you must interact with your driver managers, maintenance personnel and others. This is why it’s so important for team leaders to stress an open work environment for the flow of ideas. Silent resentment helps no one and leads to decreased team performance.
Always remember that MK is here to succeed and in order to do that, all members of a team must be able to work toward that common goal. With that in mind, if you are ever in a situation you feel needs addressed, please reach out to your Driver Manager or Supervisor. We are here to help resolve problems and improve.