Management tips for eliminating conflict between your company’s teams

One of the main sources of office friction in many mid-sized to large companies is tribalism. It’s an instinctive phenomenon that dates back to our early days as a species: we tend to identify strongly with those we work closely with, often at the expense of our relationships with other groups. Think of rivalries between fans of different sports teams or state pride—it’s simply part of our nature to band together with members of our own group. Tribalism is universal, but it can become a problem when it extends into the workplace, where teams that should be working together sometimes end up at odds.

A recent Harvard Business Review article explains the problem and lays out some solutions: “Even though everyone is on the same team, the goals and needs are different. This environment sets the stage for functional units to adopt a mindset that is more ‘us vs. them’ rather than ‘us vs. our competitors.’ The functional groups stop communicating effectively with each other and that’s when things start to go tribal.”

There are a few surefire signs that tribalism is taking hold in your office. Look for these signals so you know when to nip things in the bud:

• Rock-throwing: teams blame one another rather than working together to find solutions
• Pointing fingers at clients: blaming the customer for problems
• Passing the buck: be on the lookout for missed deadlines or commitments where no one understands or admits why
• Failure to cooperate: The most severe case of tribalism happens when whole departments or organizations refuse to cooperate with one another

Fortunately, there are simple steps managers can take to ease intra-office conflicts.

• Defuse negative psychology: Understand that if you let human nature run on autopilot, things won’t get better. Be direct and appeal to reason. State the problem plainly and reinforce that everyone is on the same team. Try to minimize emotional responses.
• Reframing: It’s the responsibility of the leader to frame the situation and environment for their followers.  Be careful with how you define the mission or goal for the teams that will be going after the goals. If collaboration or a new way of working is important, then say so.
• Break down silos: In the 21^st Century, collaboration across departments is more important than ever.  Expertise, knowledge, and skills are widely distributed and it is imperative to break down information and data silos to be competitive.

• Manage executive egos: An old consulting rule of thumb is to spot where the problem is occurring and then look one level above. Are your senior leaders sending the right messages around collaboration and cooperation? Are they being rewarded to do so?  If your senior leadership isn’t displaying the behavior that is needed then it won’t happen at lower levels.