There are certainly times when you’ll need to intervene to resolve issues between two or more team members to keep the team moving forward. But there are other times you may want to hold off. If you find that these team members are causing any of the following by their behaviors:
- An uncomfortable work environment for the others
- A slow down or delay in work being completed
- A negative impact on the team as a whole
- A reduction in effectiveness on the team
You may want to intervene. Intervention is defined as taking a specific action to stop something from occurring – in our example, the behavior of two or more team members that is affecting the team.
On the other hand, you may not want to intervene if:
- Doing so will cause more issues within the team
- The individuals are actually working it out between themselves
- The situation just started and needs time to sort itself out
Too often as team leaders we think we have to stop every situation that occurs, intervening immediately. Wait! Let the individuals sort it out themselves first. But keep an eye on it and be prepared to intervene if you find that it is impacting the rest of the team negatively or cannot be resolved in a timely manner.
If you do need to intervene, take these simple best practice steps for a successful intervention:
- Hold a separate meeting with the individuals involved, describing to them what you are seeing happening and the impact it is having on the team as a whole. Be very clear but focus solely on what you see and what is happening, not on personally blaming either of them or making accusatory statements.
For example, I might say: I have noticed that the two of you are not getting along very well and are arguing frequently during team meetings. This is having a negative impact on the team as they feel uncomfortable and it distracts from the objectives of our team meeting.
- Ask the individuals if they recognize this behavior in themselves. Likely they will tell you that they do. Ask them what can be done to resolve the issue they are having so that the team can get back on track and they can begin to work well together on this initiative? You might want to have them each state, from their perspective, what the issues is and then work with them to come to a solution that works for each of them.
If they do not recognize this behavior, provide specific examples of the behavior. For example, In our last team meeting you interrupted three times to have a side argument on a completely different issue. Or, I and others have noticed that over the last 3 meetings you were constantly bickering with each other rather than participating in the team conversations.
- Once a resolution is arrived out, develop an action plan to ensure that they will move forward with what they need to do to ensure the issue is truly resolved and they can begin to work effectively again. Check in with the team members to see how they are doing coming to resolution on their issue. If at the next team meeting you find that all is well; thank them after the meeting for their contributions and note that you are glad they were able to resolve their issues. If the problem occurs again, have another conversation.
I have never had to go past a second conversation with folks in this situation. But if you do, it may be time to be a bit firmer and clearly state that the problem must be resolved. Ensure you note that the impact they are having is a serious one and must be addressed if they are to continue on this initiative.
