Having two people in a team experience an interpersonal conflict is traumatic for everyone involved. Conflicts typically go one of two ways: big blowouts for everyone to see or implosions that are near invisible yet gossiped about. As coaches, we’re in one of the best positions to support any colleagues affected by the conflict. Often, conflicts affect more people than the original two.
One team I worked with looked like quite a strong and well-bonded team. The team consisted of developers and a Product Owner, and the management wanted to bring a Scrum Master (SM) onto the team to support their continued growth. The new SM looked to be integrating into the team well. They enjoyed the same leisure activities, had the same sense of humour, and all went well.
Until it didn’t.
Out of the blue, one of the developers started shunning and completely ignoring the SM. The developer refused to make eye contact with, or even look in the direction of, the SM. The SM noticed it immediately, but several weeks before the rest of the team noticed something was wrong. The SM was no longer invited to (not even told about) social events the rest of the team was going to, which started with events that were just for the team but quickly spread to events that encompassed the whole department.
Initially, the SM had tried to resolve the conflict with the developer by themselves, but this is always a doomed path. The SM had the sense to tell one of the leadership team very early on that there was a problem. The SM had spoken to the line manager of the Product Owners so that someone on the leadership team was aware, but neither of the involved parties’ line managers felt obliged to manage the conflict. This move saved the SM from looking like a guilty party when the developer later reported against the SM. However, the lack of action from this leader meant that the conflict became much more significant than it needed to be. Ultimately, the SM left the organisation, and we were worse off for losing a great Scrum Master.
Conflicts are more challenging to manage the longer they continue before third-party intervention. The more things can be said or happen as part of the conflict, the more there is to untangle and forgive. Unfortunately, in this particular team, the Scrum Master was one of the parties involved in the conflict, as it can be considered part of the Scrum Master’s role to look for conflicts starting to form within their teams. This is why it’s also crucial for Agile Coaches and leaders to look for the early warning signs.
Hopefully, as part of team chartering, your teams will have considered what to do when conflicts occur. This makes any conflict your colleagues experience much easier and less painful. If you don’t have conflict policies within your teams, schedule some time as soon as possible to make agreements. Hopefully, you’ll never use such agreements, but you’ll be grateful they’re there if you ever do need them.
The early signs of conflict to look out for are:
· Reduced communication;
· Hostility and aggression;
· Inappropriate behaviours; and
· Attempts to isolate one another.
We saw all these things between our ill-feted SM and developer, but none of us realised what these things meant to the two of them. When we saw these signs, we should have spoken to them individually and found out their positions and what they needed from each other to move on and then support them through and out of the conflict.
If you want to learn more about conflict management, I recommend reading Managing Conflict by David Liddle (Amazon). It is a fantastic book that covers everything from the causes of dysfunctional conflict and the lifecycle of such a conflict to legal considerations and how to navigate them.