Harnessing healthy conflict is one of the bedrocks of creating a sustainable high performing team. But in my experience working with teams, it is also one of the biggest challenges.
Many of us view conflict as a negative and shy away from confrontation. But companies who learn to embrace conflict and encourage healthy, respectful challenge create higher levels of psychological safety, which leads to higher performance, innovation and employee engagement.
If you are leading a team or managing a change initiative, David Rock’s SCARF model is a really useful tool.
His research explains that human motivation is driven by 5 key factors; Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness.
Consequently, when any of these areas of our lives feel threatened or out of balance, this causes dissatisfaction and conflict.
The good news is that tapping into these factors of motivation can help to ease conflict and enhance collaboration, satisfaction and performance within teams.
The SCARF Model: Sources of Conflict Explained
David Rock’s SCARF model shows that human motivation is driven by our desire to maximize rewards in the following areas. Conflict occurs when we perceive a threat.
1) STATUS
Perceived threat – feeling relatively unimportant to others.
How to reduce the threat:
- Encourage your team to share their opinions and create space for listening.
- Give regular feedback and encourage individuals to also evaluate their own performance and suggest areas of self-development & personal growth.
2 ) CERTAINTY
Perceived threat – feeling uncertain about what will happen in the future.
How to reduce the threat:
- Create more certainty by developing a roadmap of the future and setting clear expectations.
- Highlight key milestones and celebrate success when progress is made.
3) AUTONOMY
Perceived threat – feeling a lack of choice and control.
How to reduce the threat:
- Demonstrate your trust by giving people more autonomy and including them in decision making.
- Encourage your team to innovate and to embrace mistakes by applying learnings to improve future
outcomes.
4) RELATEDNESS
Perceived threat – feeling isolated or a lack of connection.
How to reduce the threat:
- Check in with your team regularly and allow time for catch-ups if meetings are virtual.
- Keep the team connected by scheduling regular team development and learning sessions.
- Consider mentor or buddy programmes for new recruits or anyone at risk of isolation.
5) FAIRNESS
Perceived threat – feeling perceived unfairness in our relationships or responsibilities.
How to reduce the threat:
- Be upfront and open about changes within your team and ensure good communication and
onboarding of new hires and promotions. - Bring the team together to develop a team charter and to clarify individual roles and responsibilities.
Often small changes can make a big impact and being more aware of sources of conflict can help us to minimise their threat.
It is important to recognise that not all individuals are the same and to take the time to understand the motivations that drive each individual within our team.
Can you spot your own motivational drivers within the 5 listed above?