Conflicts, while often viewed negatively, can actually be a useful tool for successful project delivery if managed correctly. As a leader, one should view conflicts as opportunities to improve communication and involvement from team members. There are different approaches to managing conflicts depending on what stage the team is at. In early stages, leaders should facilitate discussions and push for different opinions to be shared. As the team norms develop, leaders can delegate more while ensuring disputes are resolved constructively. Resolving conflicts properly helps teams progress from simply forming to truly performing at their best through improved decision making and involvement from all members.

1. Conflicts as a tool of
successful delivery
LVIV PM WEEKEND 2016

2. Agenda
 Why conflicts influence delivery
 Conflicts management model on different team state
 Your role in the conflicts
 What you should never do

3. About
10 years in IT
7 years on a management position
5 years of Agile experience

4. Conflicts are like defects
in Jira – bad that we have
them but good that we
know them

5. What in the content of Delivery?
People
Tech
Time
Money

6. People
People leads the Technology, allocate budget
and time
We can move forward while
communicating
Conflict is a natural part of
communications

7. Communications & Leadership
As a Leaders we are trying to decrease amount of communications and
increase quality of them
What can make this influence to the quality of communications:
- Domain knowledge
- Members involvement
- Leadership Experience
- Conflicts

8. “For good ideas and true innovation, you need human
interaction, conflict, argument, debate.”
Margaret Heffernan

9. Conflict – emotional opposition of groups or
individual members when everyone trying to get
the opposite position. Negatively colored

10. Why we afraid of conflict
 We use to know that conflict is the something bad. Social factor
 We believe we don’t need it
 Lack of Trust
 We don’t know if we can be heard
 We afraid to make the situation even worst

11. When will we have a conflict
 Mostly when group knows each other
 Bipolar minds in group
 Fight for the leadership, Competition
 Difference in Personalities

12. Let’s see how we make a tool from
conflict

13. Correct managing of conflicts and skills of creating
“moderated conflicts” will give you the tool that can
bring your team to Performing faster
You, as a good Leader, need to convert conflict to
dispute

14. Forming
 No Conflicts
 Poor discussions
 No Trust
You need
 Watch reaction
 Find active and inactive members
 Note
 Lead meetings
 Push discussion
 Try to suggest controversial ideas

15. Storming
 People building groups
and find with other group
or individual
 Conflicts between team
members
 Detachment as a result of
personal conflict
You need
 Take a neutral position
 Push to provide facts
 Ensure that everyone was heard
 Direct the meeting
 One-to-one talks
 Compromises in conflicts
 Ensure people has no bad post-
conflict mood
 Post mortem

16. What is the benefit of conflicts
 Cooling off
 Search for the truth
 Eliminating of weak sides of Team
 Transfer to dispute with facts
 Different thoughts
 Stabilization of relationship

17. Norming
 Switch to Discussions and
Dispute
 Getting knowledge form
conflicts
 Conflicting with desire to
find the solution
You need
 Felicitate
 Make a team
 Set goals
 Make post mortem as a standard
practice

18. Performing
 Disputes & Discussions
You need
 Delegate
 Trust
 Lead and grow Leaders

19. Your role in a conflicts

20. “Sometimes you need conflict in order to come up with a
solution. Through weakness, oftentimes, you can't make the right
sort of settlement, so I'm aggressive, but I also get things done,
and in the end, everybody likes me.”
Donald Trump

21. What you should never do
 Never Withdraw from the conflict. It will get back to you
 Leave conflict unresolved
 Think that you are right
 Don’t escalate the conflict by attacking and blaming
 Don’t try to pacify the other person

22. Call for dispute and live discussion
Start unpleasant conversations
Select hot but important topics
Ask for opinion of every member and
show how it’s important
Do not be lazy to explain

23. Be able to hear the essence
Understand the topic and importance of conversation
Decide what needs to be the result
Define the arguments missed
Switch the focus to Team result

24. Be able to ask for opinion
You will always have someone who
keep the distance
His opinion can be the most relevant
He can be non-formal leader
He can be afraid of participation in
dispute/conflict

25. Keep neutrality
You are facilitator, not the active participant
Don’t show the alignment to some group
Ask for facts, provide facts
Keep track of conversation

26. Be able to stop when needed
You need to understand when the conflict not giving results
Postpone for the later to get back to the topic with facts
Analyze why the goal was not reached
Be ready for second round

27. Switch conflict to dispute
Operate with arguments and facts but not
emotions
Provide facts
Use Story telling

28. Post effect of conflicts
 Involvement of your team into problem resolution process
 On the examples of successfully fixed conflicts your team will try to fix
future conflicts using cooperation not fighting
 Increase of quality of decisions cause your team members will provide own
opinion not the group one
 Better climate
 Increase the effectiveness of team

29. Thank you!