I’m still in climate of (late) performance reviews and, as a simple consequence, I think a lot about my team. In one of side thread of this thinking a question appeared. Imagine you have a well-integrated team. Almost. One of team members is a specialist making his job well, but unfortunately his character doesn’t suit to the rest of the team. What to do with him?
Is it possible to adjust his character? Or should we build around the guy some procedures which will formalize his contacts with the rest of the team? That’s definitely not the case of the primaballerina, in that situation decision would be much, much easier. Just conflict of characters. However, it has already inflicted some damage in people’s attitude to each other.
What would you do?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Ouf! I think you’re in a tough spot. To offer specific advice, I would want to know more about the situation. But if I were you I wouldn’t want to get too explicit about the details in such a public forum.
That said, here goes. If the conflict is personal, I would sit down with the people involved (there is always more than one) and have a private chat about the need to make room for the other person, and how the first step is just avoiding the hot-button issues – generally “keep it professional”. This conversation needs to be one-on-one, it needs to come from you, and it should be non-judgmental.
If more is needed, then a more formal relationship between the odd man out and the team might be helpful, limiting contact to defined times and processes, but I would talk to your company’s HR person (if you have one) before going to that step. This is one of the things HR is supposed to be (and often are) good at.
If the conflict is professional (i.e. differing strategic vision), you’re in a slightly worse spot. In that case I think you may have to become a bit more of a heavy hand, and settle some things by fiat. The risk is that you might not get all of the best insight your team has to offer, and you will have to work harder to not alienate them after making a “management” decision.
Also, remember that part of your job is to absorb these things, as uncomfortable as it may for you. You may feel like a punching bag at times, but that’s why they pay you the “big bucks”.
Finally, in both cases its vital that you don’t seem to pick sides, either publicly or privately. That will just worsen the situation, and could develop into a very messy resignation.
Thanks for comment, Andrew. I should have written a bit more in the post. The conflict isn’t personal. It’s nothing like one person constantly insulting another. It’s the situation when characters of two (or more) persons differ greatly. The difference is so big that it influences everyday work. E.g. pedant vs sloven would be good example. It’s generally based on characters of people, which are very hard to change, and it would definitely affect their cooperation.
To add some information about me, that’s not the first conflict in that area I have to solve. Usually there are several plans to implement to improve the situation. This time I’m surprised that characters difference can influence team work as much. I can’t say that one or another character is bad. It isn’t. On the other hand the mixture doesn’t work well.
I know my role is to be a punching bag (I love this comparison) and I should calm the guys down. These are short-term actions however. The most obvious long-term solution is (as you write) to try to settle some things in a way I believe is the best for the team. I still look for plan B to implement, if that one fails.
I think very important thing you point is not to take sides. I try to do some advocacy for both sides in front of their adversary and invite thinking like “let’s look for a problem with me instead of pointing fingers on others.”
After all, I’m still not sure if all those ideas will fix the problem. To be honest I’m even curious to see results.
Well, I think you have just solved your problem. You have said “get lost, you’re different, you don’t fit to our team” to the person you wrote about.
Your situation isn’t hypothetical, your team members read your blog. I’ll give you an example. “I have a problem with my wife. She’s still beautiful, intelligent but I don’t like her anymore. What would you do in my situation?” Well, I don’t know, but I know what your wife would do ;).
I am joking a bit but think about it.
I think you got it wrong. There’s no “get lost” message here. I don’t even think about that solution.
And using your comparison that’s not a problem with the wife. It’s more like an issue between a couple of your friends. You don’t judge any of them, but try to find a way out. Like I’ve mentioned in previous comment, I don’t consider any of involved people’s characters as a problem. The issue isn’t individual and its source is spread among several people.
After all, I think we can fix the situation, in other case I wouldn’t write about that. And, believe me, I haven’t written a word about the subject before discussing the issue with involved persons.
Pawell,
Just read an article on performance appraisals…
It appears quality guru W Edwards Deming didn’t like them either.
The article refers to these points why performance approasals are unfair;
• You can’t separate out a person’s performance from the systems and environment they work in (and they are not in control of)
• Work is usually performed by many people not just one person
• Appraisals presume a constant environment to review performance across
• Appraisers are consistent in their rating
All of which are obviously not true.
There is another sides to the argument as well – the one that says performance reviews are good, they just aren’t implemented well.
Here is the source article.
Regards
Craig
Better Projects Blog
I’m not against performance reviews, although I think some of readers understood it that way.
I believe in performance appraisals, but they’re really difficult task when you want to do them right. I agree with what you write, that the process is usually poorly implemented and that’s why it’s considered as unfair and unnecessary.
Why incentive plans cannot work
Hi Pawell,
Some reading for you:
Alfie Kohn on Harvard Business Review 1993
The author wrote a compelling article on the topic in HBR1993. It also has comments by several experts from the field. Well worth a read.
Craig
Better Projects Blog