Building Conflict Competent Teams

"Conflict happens on the best of teams. Building Conflict Competent Teams shows team leaders as well as team members how to constructively tackle the challenges that come when people disagree. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to lead, or belong to, a high performing team."
--Ken Blanchard, coauthor, The One Minute Manager(R) and The One Minute Entrepreneur

"Runde and Flanagan have put together a clear, well-written guide to the nature and sources of conflict that arise in teams and, more important, how to maximize the chances that conflict turns out to be the good thing that teams thrive on instead of the bad thing that destroys team performance."
--Douglas K. Smith, author, The Wisdom of Teams

"Building Conflict Competent Teams is full of stories that illustrate the power and purpose of conflict. It's a field guide to those of us who understand that constructive conflict can lead to innovation and, potentially, competitive advantage."
--Jan McKenzie, director, training and development, the Weather Channel Companies

"An inspiring, comprehensive, and practical resource for team leaders, this book unveils the diamonds hidden beneath conflict's rocky surface."
--Mark Gerzon, author, Leading Through Conflict: How Successful Leaders Transform Differences into Opportunities

"Runde and Flanagan get to the hidden core of why some teams and organizations manage the inevitable conflict that comes with change better than others. Organizations that equip their teams with the knowledge and skills to engage conflicts as opportunities will be the ones that emerge as leaders in their industries. This book isrequired reading for those who wish to learn how to turn the energy of conflict into a positive force." --Ira Fialkow, executive vice president, shared services and human resources, Rinker Group Limited

Understanding how to cool down, slow down, and engage the naturally occurring conflicts among team members is critical to the ultimate success of a team. With this book, your team and its members will gain a deeper understanding of how conflict emerges and how to respond in ways that will leverage conflicts to their advantage. Team members will learn the importance of establishing a safe team climate, agreeing on processes to guide interactions, and use of constructive communication skills in order to develop a conflict competent team.

As the authors say, conflict is not to be avoided, but embraced and explored. This often results in new, previously unimagined opportunities, solutions and results. The authors include stories, interviews, and examples that provide entertaining and thought provoking insights. They dedicate one chapter to techniques and processes for addressing team conflict that has gone awry. Runde and Flanagan also include useful tips and tools for assessing your teams current state of conflict competence and suggestions for addressing the challenges of todays virtual and geographically dispersed teams.