The Best Way Team Leaders Should Handle a Dispute

(MoneyWatch)  A dispute among work team members can flash-over into a full conflagration in no time, scorching you and your colleagues in minutes. That's why quick action on your part as team leader to douse the flaming is needed.

Problem is, you've got seconds, not minutes, to get on top of things. What's your first action? Is it the trusted but usually ineffective, "Let's everyone take a time out" gambit? Maybe you prefer the "Let's settle down and talk this out" response, which works great if you have a therapist's license.

The best answer is to have a conflict resolution mechanism set ahead of time -- team norms.

"The best approach to resolving disputes once they've erupted is to refer back to something the team can, or has already, agreed on," writes HBR.org blogger Amy Gallo in her post, Get Your Team to Stop Fighting and Start Working.

Team norms should ideally be established when the unit is first formed. These are rules that help the group run effective meetings and make sure everyone is heard.

Some examples of team norms:

• Meetings will begin promptly when scheduled.
• We will not interrupt team members when they are stating a position.
• E-mail and other communications will be answered within 24 hours.

Other norms help the team make decisions and resolve conflict:

• Decisions will be made by majority/plurality/consensus vote, and supported by the whole team once made.
• Problems among team members must be raised and resolved by the group itself -- they don't go away by themselves.
• No rolling of eyeballs or caustic remarks.
• We will call in a neutral third party for help when X happens.

The worst time to try to diffuse a dispute is in the heat of battle. With team norms in place, you have a calm, rational resolution mechanism already in place, and other team members ready to enforce it.

What are your ideas for creating order out of chaos around the meeting table?

(Angry tigers image by Tambako the Jaguar, CC 2.0)