Resolving conflict

- Conflict is inherent in cross-functional team structures. Be vigilant about identifying and resolving conflict before it severely impacts team performance. To identify conflict, monitor both project milestones as well as team member metrics. Talk with your team members frequently to suss out issues. If a milestone is missed, or a metric is off, get to the root cause quickly. When talking with your team members, ask them directly what conflict or issues they see. Look, don't overreact to every little complaint but do look for trends. If everyone on the team is complaining about one individual's behavior, you have an issue you need to resolve. I was working as a consultant at one point and the client had a cross-functional team. The team seemed to be working well but we sensed a little bit of tension. We sat down with each individual client and we asked what's going well and what's not. Every single one of those conversations involved one person's name. They were a problem and there…