Our second blog delving into the workshop elements covered in the Spinnaker Maritime Leadership Development Programme that are crucial for a high-performing team. This blog will cover Conflict.

The Cambridge Dictionary describes Conflict as ‘an active disagreement between people with opposing opinions and beliefs.’

When we think of high-performing teams, conflict seems the opposite of what we want in our teams. So why is conflict so important? The importance is encouraging healthy conflict. Healthy conflict can encourage creative solutions, provide diverse perspectives and ideas and therefore create better decision-making.

However, teams need to trust each other to have healthy conflict. Our first blog in this series covers Trust.

Team members need to know their thoughts are valued and that conflict is not personal. Managers can ensure this by creating a safe environment where healthy, constructive conflict is encouraged, and conflicts are resolved constructively.

What happens when a team has a fear of conflict? If a team is afraid of engaging in conflict, then important issues may not be discussed, team members are not provided with honest feedback and more determined members of the team won’t have their ideas challenged. This can lead to tension, frustration and a lack of genuine collaboration.

The Facet5 report sub fact of conflict investigates the participants natural response to Confrontation. Those with low scores will naturally adapt to other people’s arguments, will remain calm in situations and won’t buy in to arguments. Those with high scores can hold their own in confrontations and are quick to react and confront issues.

Managers need to have an understanding of their team’s personality to effectively create a safe environment and encourage healthy conflict in a team.

For more information on how Conflict impacts you and your team and on the Maritime Leadership Development Programme. Contact Helen & Monique [email protected]

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Lencioni, P. (2002), The Five Dysfunction of a Team, John Wiley & Sons

Spinnaker has been running the Maritime Leadership Development Programme since 2016.

In this series of blog posts we wanted to introduce you to the ideas we cover during the workshop element of the programme.

The workshop element covers 5 elements that create a high-performing team and today we will look further into Trust.

The Cambridge Dictionary describes Trust as ‘to believe that someone is good and honest and will not harm you, or that something is safe and reliable’. So how does this work in a high-performing team and, maybe more importantly what happens in a team where there is no trust?

What does a team with trust look like? They will have constructive communication where collaboration is encouraged and team members feel they are in a safe environment. Trust ensures team members feel comfortable sharing ideas, giving and receiving feedback and taking risks. When all these factors come together you can identify a high-performing team.

But what happens when there is no trust in a team? Conflict increases, misunderstanding occurs more often, and members of the team don’t feel safe to raise concerns. This is especially critical onboard ships.

A Facet5 subfactor under Affection is Trust. People with high trust take people at face value and are focused on the preservation of relationships. This does mean they can be unquestioning of others. People with low trust challenge the motives of others in the interest of achieving the best business results and can be generally guarded. So how does your natural personality preference influence the level of trust in your team?

How do you ensure your team trusts you and do you trust them? Do they trust each other? How do we improve the level of trust in our team?

For more information on how Trust impacts you and your team and on the Maritime Leadership Development Programme. Contact Helen & Monique [email protected]

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Lencioni, P. (2002), The Five Dysfunction of a Team, John Wiley & Sons

Since 2016 Spinnaker, in collaboration with behavioural change experts t-three have run the Maritime Leadership Development Programme.

The core focus of the programme is to build and improve leadership and management capabilities, identify and grow talent for future leadership positions, energise and engage employees, and develop high-performing teams.

The programme includes five elements and this week, Lucy McQuillan HRC Manager and co-facilitator in the workshops will give you an insight into the topics covered and why they are important.

Spinnaker will publish a series of blogs this week focusing on the 5 key characteristics of a high-performing team, Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability, and Results.

For more information about the Maritime Leadership Development Programme contact Helen & Monique at [email protected]