HELP! My project team hates each other ft. Gillian Klette
What to do when your project team hates each other
Good project managers know the most important part of the project is the people. But what do you do when your project team hates each other? In this podcast, I speak with change management consultant Gillian Klette about how to resolve personal conflicts within your project management team.
Gillian has more than 20 years experience in change management and project management, in a mix of private and public organisations.
She is focused on change as it relates to people, including changes to business processes, systems and technology, job roles and organisation structures and provides coaching on emotions management, resilience, turning negatives into positives, breaking old habits, identifying and removing blockages and confidence, courage and determination.
Points raised in this podcast:
- Many project managers are task-oriented and don’t always think about their people resources. They can be at a loss as to how to resolve conflicts when their project team hates each other.
- Animosity can snowball when team members do not listen to each or express how they feel genuinely.
- When trying to resolve a conflict, it is best to express how the person’s actions made you feel rather than be accusatory about their behaviour.
- Teams can be made up of people from all over the world who do not always speak the same language, so it is often easy for people to cause offense accidentally, leading to unnecessary conflict.
- Clearly defining the role and expected contribution of each team member based on their strengths can help avoid team members feeling undervalued or overlooked.
- Team leaders should let their team know when they are observing friction and encourage them to work through it.
- Reconciliation should always be the goal.
- An honest one-on-one conversation in a relaxed environment such as a bar or coffee shop can be the best way to resolve conflict.
- Up to 80 percent of communication is non-verbal, which means people will often know they are disliked or not respected without it being spoken out loud.