Joining Dan Neumann today is Logan Butler, a Senior Software Developer and Scrum Master at AgileThought, who is currently working in a scaled scrum environment!

Today, Dan and Logan will be discussing conflict with civility. Conflict within teams is inevitable — but how you choose to manage the conflict within your team is entirely within your control! In Logan’s experience as a developer and Scrum Master, he has learned that approaching conflict with civility not only helps you maintain highly positive relationships but also puts you on the right path toward building a transparent and brave team. And, as a former high school teacher, Logan has plenty of experience with conflict management. In this episode, he brings his unique perspective from his days as a teacher to his current role as a Sr. Developer to the podcast!

Tune in to learn all about how to handle conflict with civility!

Key Takeaways

What does it mean to handle conflict with civility? And what can be done to support it?

Dealing with complex situations while maintaining highly positive relationships with the people that we work with

Remembering conflict is not synonymous with angry or yelling; it is simply a problem that needs to be navigated

Empower your team through communication

Create a culture where everyone feels comfortable to speak up

Keep good working relationships with everyone on your team so they stay engaged

How to navigate conflict with civility:

If someone doesn’t want to participate, don’t force them

Lead by example and model what you want to see in your team

Explore the conflict through going through SBI feedback model (Situation-Behavior-Impact)

Utilize the Enneagram Personality Assessment tool to better understand a team member’s personality and perspective

Why is it important for teams to be able to handle conflict well?

Because conflict within teams is inevitable

It is healthy to deal civilly with conflict by not becoming affected emotionally or leave with hurt feelings

Logan’s three strategies for handling conflict with civility:

Protect your team:

Make sure everybody is treating everybody with respect, everyone is supported, and everyone is built up

Don’t support misbehavior (i.e. ignoring jokes at someone’s expense)

Have conversations to make sure everyone is included

Set up your working agreement and ground rules as a team

Look out with empathy:

Consider others’ circumstances

Use group activities to help build empathy (such as retrospectives and the True Colors Exercise)

Think from someone else’s perspective, then listen, and have a conversation

Walk humbly:

Choose to go in a situation and acknowledge you won’t have all the right answers

Choose to be a constant learner and look at every opportunity as room to learn

Always be willing to better yourself and go into conflicts looking for what you missed rather than telling the other person what should have been

If you can do these three things, you have set yourself up to walk into a conflict with a demeanor that will ultimately lead to a better resolution and less baggage

The mindset of a continuous learner:

Be proactive in the way that you act humbly by choosing not to go down a path where you become a hero of the team

If you see yourself going down the path of becoming a hero, you can choose to become a team player

Don’t measure yourself on quantitative things; your value and contribution to the team is more than you can quantifiably deliver to the team

Mentioned in this Episode:

Logan Butler’s LinkedIn

Eckerd College

Situation-Behavior-Impact Feedback Model (SBI)

Enneagram Personality Assessment

True Colors Assessment

Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep.26: “How an Effective Leader Coaches with Joseph Carella”

Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep.20: “Dr. Jeff Thompson on Values-Based Leadership”

Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep.32: “Christy Erbeck on Courageous Leadership”

Brené Brown: The Call to Courage (Netflix Special)

Logan Butler’s Book Pick:

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts., by Brené Brown

Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?

Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com!

Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

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