Where conflicts come from
- Overlapping responsibilities: two people think they decide the same thing.
- Unclear decisions: nobody knows who makes the call, so everyone defends their position.
- Different ways of working, with no shared method.
- Unspoken expectations: what each person expects from the other was never stated.
- Between partners: disagreement on direction, pace, roles or how value is shared.
In the team: clarify before you rule
- Listen to each person separately, to understand the real issue behind the visible conflict.
- Look for the structural cause: an unclear role, a missing rule, contradictory methods.
- Clarify in writing: who owns what, who decides, how we work.
- Come back to it a few weeks later to check the clarification holds.
Ruling isn't always the answer. When the conflict comes from a missing rule, naming a winner fixes nothing: the same conflict will return with other people. It's the rule that needs writing.
Between partners: set the rules before the crisis
Conflicts between partners are the most costly, because they hit leadership itself. What prevents them:
- A written, shared direction: where the business is going, at what pace, with what priorities.
- Distinct roles: who runs what, who has the final word on which topic.
- Decision rules for important topics: unanimous, majority, or by whoever owns the topic.
- A regular meeting between partners, away from operations, to talk about the big picture.
- A shareholders' agreement for the legal and financial side: that's a matter for your advisers.
When to get help
An outside view helps when the conflict drags on, when the owner is part of it, or when it involves the partners. A right-hand, a mediator or a coach, depending on the nature of the conflict. See right-hand, consultant or coach: which one?
For all team problems: the 10 most common team problems. To clarify direction: aligning your team.