Decoding workplace conflict
Workplace conflict is a normal part of working with people. When tension goes unaddressed or escalates, it can undermine trust, communication, and performance across teams. The good news is that conflict isn’t always a terrible thing. When you understand what drives it, conflict can be a useful insight into where your team needs more clarity, alignment, and support. The best teams aren’t conflict-free; they just navigate conflict well. Carlie Bell, director of consulting at Citation Canada, unpacks the roots of workplace conflict and walks through how strong leaders manage tension to build trust and improve performance in this expert Q&A.
What you will take away
- A clearer understanding of the four key drivers of workplace conflict
- Insight into how trust changes the impact of tension
- Practical tools to diagnose conflict early and respond with confidence
- Real-world examples and tips you can apply right away
If workplace conflicts affect your team’s productivity, this webinar replay video and expert Q&A are for you.
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Expert Q&A: Conflict management in the workplace
In this Q&A, our director of consulting, Carlie Bell, answers this webinar’s top questions on navigating workplace conflict, building trust, and turning tension into high-performing teams.
[Adapted from webinar transcript]
Alex: Today, we’re looking at conflict in the workplace and how to tackle it head-on to turn tension into high-trust, high-performing teams.
My name’s Alex Smith, and I head up marketing at Citation Canada. I’m here to handle the housekeeping and help moderate any questions that come up. But our expert presenter today, as you see here, is Carlie Bell. She is our director of consulting. Before joining us at Citation, she built a successful consulting business after years in academia, where she focussed on management information systems. She holds several certifications. I will read a few. Certified change management practitioner, certified brain-based and results-trained coach. She’s also a certified AQAI adaptability coach and practitioner and holds certifications in mindful leadership and neurolinguistics programming.
Carlie, did I miss anything you want to share?
Carlie: Oh, that’s great. Thank you.
Alex: To start, how would you define conflict in the workplace?
Carlie: It’s important to recognize that conflict itself is not the enemy. It’s a symptom of something deeper. If we can get to the roots of what’s happening, we can turn tension into an opportunity for growth. Conflict is information, and we want to build our team’s capacity to process it intelligently. That’s the key. It’s going to be there; it’s how we use it that matters.
Alex: What are the main drivers of conflict?
Carlie: There are four main conflict drivers, also known as the four types of conflict.
- Task conflict: This is a misunderstanding or disagreement about what you’re trying to achieve. It’s easy to manage by ensuring teams agree on the task before they start working.
- Process conflict: This happens when there’s disagreement about how to achieve the goal. Everyone may have different ideas about the best way to approach the work.
- Relational conflict: This is what most of us think of when we hear the word “conflict.” It’s where the emotion comes in. It arises from the unique personalities and backgrounds of individuals working together.
- Technological conflict: This relates to the tools we rely on. In today’s world, this often involves information and communication technologies. For example, when people are engaged with their devices, they can miss critical information being shared in social settings, leading to conflict.
Alex: Can one of these drivers lead to another?
Carlie: Absolutely. These don’t necessarily stand alone. They interact and can be highly layered. For example, if a project team misses a deadline, operations might blame IT, and IT might blame leadership. This could involve process conflict (how the work was done), task conflict (what the goal was), and even relational conflict (the blame game). It’s important to diagnose what’s at play, so you can address the root cause. If you can’t name it, you can’t fix it.
Alex: How does trust affect how teams handle conflict?
Carlie: Trust is the lens through which we experience conflict.
- High-trust teams see tension as an opportunity. They can debate ideas and challenge each other without fear of damaging relationships. This is where innovation happens.
- Low-trust teams see disagreement as a danger. It can feel threatening. People fall silent, protect themselves, and don’t share information because they’re worried.
- Medium-trust teams are cautious. They might share some information, but aren’t diving deep or asking many questions.
Your team will fall somewhere on this continuum, and the position can shift depending on the context. As a leader, you can quickly identify where your team is by observing their communication style.
Alex: How do you get staff to talk to each other respectfully to resolve something before management has to get involved?
Carlie: This is where the “leadership shadow” plays a crucial role. A person in a position of authority is watched all the time. Your body language and facial expressions send powerful signals. If you, as the leader, consistently engage in respectful conversations, you set the expectation that respect is required in the workplace. You’re modelling the way. This makes it much easier to step in and remind people of those standards when you see disrespectful behaviour.
Alex: What’s the best approach for a new leader coming into an established team?
Carlie: I’d suggest coming in with an open, questioning mindset. Talk to the team. Ask: “What did your last leader do well? What can I do to be more helpful? What do you need?” Come in as a member of the team. If you try to immediately assert your authority, it’s easy to push the team into low-trust mode. By working with them, you build a connection and trust from the start.
Alex: That makes sense. What about when an internal employee is promoted to lead their former colleagues? How does that affect conflict?
Carlie: That’s always an interesting one. There’s now a power imbalance, and some team members may be disappointed. The best approach is to lean into the relationships you already have and understand where they’re coming from. You can become their link to resources that help the team achieve its goals.
I would address the change directly and early on. You could say something like, “I’m fully aware that I received this promotion, and I couldn’t have done it without all of you as teammates.” Be human. How would you want to be treated in that situation?
Alex: How can you keep conversations factual and not emotional, especially in low-trust situations?
Carlie: I’d suggest using a structured communication model. Many of us engage in conversations ad hoc, listening only to formulate our response. A model helps you plan conversations, especially when you know there might be tension. At Citation Canada, we use the STEADY communication model, which breaks conversations into distinct stages with different purposes. By thinking through the stages in advance, you can improve communication across the board.
Alex: Do you have any phrases that can help open up a conversation around conflict?
Carlie: This is where a coaching style of leadership really matters. Ask questions rather than jumping to assumptions. Approach it with a lens of curiosity. Try phrases like:
“I hear that you’re frustrated. Can you tell me where this started for you?”
“What would the ideal outcome be for you?”
“If I could wave a magic wand, what would that look like?”
For relational issues, a helpful question to ask is: “If you were your best friend, what would you tell your best friend to do?” This helps people access the thinking part of their brain, and they start giving themselves advice.
Alex: Finally, how can you stop gossip before it becomes toxic?
Carlie: Again, this comes back to the leadership shadow. Everything you do as a leader is being watched. Gossip is fundamentally about people connecting on an emotional, vulnerable level because they’re upset about something. As a leader, it’s your job to step in whenever you hear gossip. Say, “This sounds like gossip, and that’s not productive here,” then step away. Whatever you do, don’t contribute to it. You must model the way. If you can’t say something to someone’s face, you probably shouldn’t say it at all at work. That’s on you as the leader to enforce.
For more tips on cracking the code of conflict in your workplace, watch the on-demand webinar and discover the resources our expert recommends.
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