A Field Guide to Team Dynamics and Conflict

Culture / Field Guides / High Performing Teams / Leadership / Organizational Change / Problem Solving

Patterns, tools, and practices for cultivating environments where both harmonious flow and healthy conflict can thrive

Illustration of a hybrid video conference with potential confusion and conflictA conversation with colleagues Claudia, Mike, and MG about Navigating Conflict: Transforming Tensions into Growth sparked deeper questions. During a reflective walk afterward, nature provided insights through the contrasting behaviors of starlings and crows (When Systems Dance: A Ponder on Organizational Change and Conflict). This field guide emerged from that talk and walk – synthesizing practical tools and frameworks for working with the patterns we might see in our organizational systems.

How to Use This Guide

The guide provides a spectrum of common team patterns, starting with healthy ones, things you’ll likely observe with high-performing teams, and then progresses through muddy “not clear” territory, to various levels of not-so-good, and all the way to fully toxic.

Follow this iterative process to understand and influence team dynamics:

  1. Observe Patterns: Map current system behaviors, noting how patterns overlap and reinforce each other.
  2. Build Understanding: Contemplate and speculate why your system operates as it does.
  3. Select Tools: Choose context-appropriate tools, practices, and models that can nudge or shift patterns toward desired future states.
  4. Run Experiments: Design and conduct small experiments to amplify helpful patterns and dampen destructive ones. (Collect data!!!!)
  5. Study Results: Listen and see how your system responds through changing behaviors, interactions, and outcomes.
  6. Adapt & Iterate: Adjust your approach based on system feedback, then return to observation to see if/how you’re making the energy cost of virtue less than that of sin. (H/T to Dave Snowden).

Pattern 1: Flow States

Starling Murmuration with each bird moving independently yet remaining perfectly attuned to the whole
Starling Murmuration with each bird moving independently yet remaining perfectly attuned to the whole

What You’ll Observe:

  • Fluid coordination without explicit direction
  • The natural emergence of solutions
  • High trust and psychological safety
  • Balanced participation across team members
  • Easy movement between divergent and convergent thinking
  • Dynamic balance of different interaction styles

Tools for Supporting & Amplifying Flow States:

  • Kantor Four Player Model
    • Why: Framework for understanding and balancing team dynamics
    • Key Roles: (Each role serves vital team needs)
      • Movers: Initiate direction and actions
      • Followers: Support and complete actions
      • Opposers: Challenge and improve ideas
      • Bystanders: Provide perspective and context
    • Learn more: Helping Team Members Stretch Their Communication Muscles

Pattern 2: Productive Conflict

A Murder of Crows: each one clearly expressing its position and boundaries.
A Murder of Crows: each one clearly expressing its position and boundaries.

What You’ll Observe:

  • “Problem to solve” language (Level 1 on Lyssa Adkins’ Ladder of Conflict)
  • Focus on issues not personalities
  • Curiosity about differing perspectives
  • Active engagement in solution-finding
  • “Yes, and…” building on ideas

Tools for Amplifying Productive Conflict:

See “Tools for Supporting & Amplifying Flow” above plus…

Finding value in this article? Treat me to a coffee –  fuel more great content!

Pattern 3: Ambiguous or Unclear

As an observer or a participant, you might not be sure if things are good or bad…

Tells/Smells That Things Might Not be Good:

  • Meetings consistently end with “no questions”, Pre/post-meeting dynamics
  • Quick agreement without discussion or frequent reversed decisions
  • People check others’ reactions before speaking
  • Lack of healthy debate, informal power dynamics
  • Decision Flow: Actual vs. stated decision paths
  • Information Movement: Back-channel communications or undiscussable topics
  • Gaps between stated values and actual team behaviors

These are all signs that a deeper investigation is warranted.

Suggested Tools to Explore / Reveal the System to Itself:

See Powerful Questions & Clean Language above [→ Pattern 2: Productive Conflict]

  • Understand Good vs Bad Meetings
    • Why: Meetings should be an opportunity to connect, learn, educate, share, collaborate, & inspire. Are they?
    • Learn More: Meeting Bloody Meetings

Patterns in Crisis: Three Diagnostic Lenses

When systems move away from flow and/or productive conflict, multiple disturbing patterns often emerge simultaneously. Without intervention, things can deteriorate through:

  • Escalating interpersonal tensions
  • Formation of opposing camps
  • Breakdown in psychological safety
  • Emergence of toxic communication patterns

To begin to address things, it’s helpful to have a diagnostic approach to help understand current system dynamics. Like a doctor using different tools (X-rays, blood tests, physical exams), the following three lenses will help identify entry points for intervention and treatment.

Lens 1: Escalation Patterns (Lyssa Adkins)

Focus: Identify conflict intensity level and trajectory (For a more in-depth exploration, see this white paper by Lyssa Adkins)

Observable Patterns:

Coaching agile teams to constructively navigate conflict
From: Coaching Agile Teams, Lyssa Adkins

Level 2: Disagreement

  • Guarded language and personal protection mechanisms
  • “No, but…” responses replace dialogue
  • Decreased listening, increased defensiveness
  • Early signs of position-taking

Level 3: Contest

  • Win/lose framing dominates discussions
  • Strategic alliance formation
  • Selective use of data to support positions
  • Rising tension in interactions

Level 4: Crusade

  • Ideological/moral framing of issues
  • Right/wrong polarization
  • Active conversion attempts
  • Emotional intensity overshadows content

Level 5: World War

  • Dehumanizing language
  • Intentional system sabotage
  • Complete communication breakdown
  • Return path seems impossible

Lens 2: Relationship Dynamics (Karpman’s Drama Triangle)

Focus: Identify stuck relationship patterns. (For a more in-depth exploration, see this Wikipedia article)

Observable Patterns:

Victim Role

  • “Nothing I can do” language
  • Active responsibility avoidance
  • Seeking rescuers/enablers
  • Learned helplessness signs

Persecutor Role

  • “They always…” accusations
  • Rigid position-holding
  • Constant fault-finding
  • Control-seeking behaviors

Rescuer Role

  • Unsolicited problem-solving
  • Creating dependency
  • Conflict avoidance
  • Capability suppression

Lens 3: Toxic Behaviors (Four Horsemen)

Focus: Identify specific destructive interaction patterns. (For a more in-depth exploration, see: this article on Gottman.com)

Observable Patterns:

Criticism

  • “You never/always” statements
  • Character attacks vs. behavior focus
  • Global negative judgments
  • Blame-shame cycles

Contempt

  • Non-verbal dismissal (eye-rolling)
  • Hostile humor/sarcasm
  • Public mockery
  • Superiority displays

Defensiveness

  • Immediate counter-attacks
  • Chronic “yes, but” responses
  • Responsibility deflection
  • Attack-defend cycles

Stonewalling

  • Physical/emotional withdrawal
  • Communication shutdown
  • Emotional flooding signs
  • Connection refusal

Common Interaction / Reinforcing Patterns

Distress/crisis patterns can interact, reinforce and sometimes mask each other, creating not-so-virtuous loops, Without intervention, things can deteriorate rapidly driving further escalation

e.g:

  1. Escalation → Drama → Toxicity

    • Disagreement → victim stance → criticism → further escalation

  1. Toxicity → Drama → Escalation

    • Contempt → persecutor role → conflict elevation → more toxic responses

Good stuff here for you? Treat me to a virtual coffee… and fuel more content like this!

Entry Points for Intervention to Crisis Dynamics

1. Establish Safety First

Why: Required foundation before other interventions can succeed.

Key Actions:

  • Address immediate toxic behaviors
  • Create basic psychological safety guardrails
  • Establish clear communication guidelines
  • Build trust incrementally

Tools:

2. Transform Relationship Patterns

Why: Break destructive cycles, and establish healthier dynamics.

Key Actions:

  • Help shift from drama roles to empowered stances
  • Build new interaction patterns
  • Practice healthy responses
  • Reframe challenges constructively

Tools:

3. Evolve Systematically

Why: Gradual obtainment of productive conflict and flow states.

Key Actions:

  • Move down the escalation ladder one level at a time
  • Build competence at each level
  • Celebrate small wins
  • Maintain momentum
  • Improve the environment (Lewin’s equation)

Tools:

Experiment Design Guidelines

When designing experiments to amplify beneficial patterns and dampen destructive ones, keep in mind that you’re observing living systems and your context is unique. Every tool/approach mentioned in this guide is a starting point, not a prescription. The list is not intended to be exhaustive. With that in mind, here’s one way you might proceed:

1. Assess Current State

  • Map observed patterns to diagnostic lenses
  • Check /confirm psychological safety levels
  • Identify primary engagement points
  • Mind your cognitive biases in assessment

2. Design Small Experiments

  • Choose tools matching the current system state
  • Generally start with low-risk ideas
  • Plan how you’ll collect impact data:
    • Qualitative: Stories, observations, retrospective themes
    • Quantitative: Relevant team and system metrics
    • Pattern emergence over time

3. Monitor & Adjust

  • Watch for pattern shifts
  • Note both intended and unintended effects
  • Adjust approach based on system feedback
  • Document what works

4. Build Sustainability

  • Transfer ownership to the team
  • Establish leading indicators/early warning systems
  • Create feedback loops for continuous learning

Note on metrics: Measuring system patterns is an art and science of its own. Perhaps we’ll explore specific approaches to qualitative and quantitative measurement in a future field guide. For now, focus on noticing patterns and collecting whatever data feels most relevant to your current experiments. You might find some starting points in the following posts:

Explore More: Join Me for a Walk & Talk

Mind Map

Want to explore how these patterns show up in your system?  Interested in how you can transform your leadership approach and catalyze meaningful change in your organization? Got ideas to share about other tools and experiments? Let’s chat over coffee …

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to Top