#2 – Conflict

When you hear the word conflict, what comes to mind? Stress? Avoidance? Heated arguments? In reality, conflict doesn’t have to be destructive. In fact, in high-performing teams, it’s essential.

Within The Five Behaviors Programme we define healthy conflict as:
“The willingness to engage in productive, unfiltered debate around ideas. It’s not personal. It’s not about egos. It’s about creating space for different perspectives to collide, constructively.

Think about it:

• Do your team meetings feel like echo chambers?
• Do people nod along, but grumble afterwards?
• Do difficult topics keep getting parked “for another time”?

That’s not harmony, that’s avoidance and avoidance creates risk. Decisions get watered down. Innovation stalls. Frustrations simmer. But when Trust is in place, conflict becomes safe. It’s not a threat – it’s a tool.

Teams with healthy conflict:

• Debate ideas robustly without fear
• Challenge one another to improve
• Feel heard, even when they disagree
• Leave meetings with clearer direction and more commitment

We worked with a team recently who dreaded “conflict.” They thought they were keeping things calm until they realised silence was costing them results. After going through The Five Behaviors Programme® they started having braver conversations and they’ve never looked back.

If your team could benefit from more honest conversations (without the drama), we’d love to show you how this approach works in practice. Get in touch by phone, email or using the form below.

The third of The Five Behaviors? Commitment.

Launched on Thursday 25th September, on each Thursday at 1:00pm,, our good friend and colleague, Kevin Watson is hosting a series of five free, 45 minute webinars in which you’ll discover how The Five Behaviours™ drives performance, gaining practical tools and insights to build trust, embrace conflict, drive commitment, strengthen accountability, and stay focused on delivering team results.