“Anyone can manage a team when everything is going well, but when a crisis hits, can you maintain your leadership?” So began UAB Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Professional Development Dr. David A. Rogers’ exploration of conflict at the Sept. CCTS Training Interdisciplinary & Emerging Research Scholars (TIERS) meeting. Noting that scientists increasingly work in teams, he stressed the importance of developing conflict management skills, which he described as “leadership sustained through a challenging circumstance.”
Building from Rahim 2001’s definition of conflict as “a process of social interaction involving struggle over claims to resources, power, status, beliefs, and other preferences or desires,” Dr. Rogers divided the sources of conflict into two different types: tasks/processes and relational. The latter, he said, was the hardest to manage and the most likely to result in negative outcomes for a team.
Among the solutions for team conflict, Rogers ranked understanding one’s own tendencies at the top of the list. He listed several other important “soft skills” that are critical to stave off or better manage conflict, including learning to negotiate, listen strategically, modulate one’s language and emotions, suspend attribution, and apologize correctly. He also stressed the role of trust as a key ingredient in teams that function well.
In summary, he noted conflict on scientific teams is inevitable given they usually comprise “brilliant, passionate but underresourced academics.” Being able to recognize when conflict is likely, actively managing it when it occurs, and using each instance as an opportunity for leadership development was his recipe for building and maintaining successful science teams.
Join us for the the next CCTS TIERS meeting on Nov. 16, when Dr. Robert Rich, professor of Medicine, Microbiology, and Medical Education and former senior vice president and dean, UAB School of Medicine, will address Job Negotiation and Promotion in Academic Medicine. TIERS alternates monthly with the CCTS Journal Club, which will meet on Wed. Oct. 19 to discuss Comparison of Post-Hospitalization Function and Community Mobility in Hospital Mobility Program and Usual Care Patients with PI and lead author Dr. Cynthia Brown, director, UAB Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care, Department of Medicine. Both TIERS and CCTS Journal Club take place at the Pittman Center for Advanced Medical Studies (PCAMS) Building from 5-6pm.