Blog
Strategies for improving team communication as a leader
By Oscar Mathew, Director MMF
Leaders often approach us for help when their teams are stuck in conflict.
Sometimes they are a party to the conflict; sometimes they aren’t but are tasked with managing it. Commonly they are seen as being responsible for dealing with it, but easy solutions are hard to pin down. It can be difficult to see a successful route through the conflict.
This isn’t in any sense a failing on their part; it’s a reflection of the fact that discord within a team is a knotty and stressful dynamic to try and unpick, and one that rarely lends itself to easy answers.
Sometimes conflict has become so embedded that it requires a mediated solution, but there are also steps leaders can take to help prevent issues escalating to that stage. Encouraging open, constructive disagreement and inclusive dialogue is a great way of preventing conflict establishing itself in your team.
So - what can you do as a team leader to try and establish the right kind of team dynamics?
Please don’t tell me not to worry
by Sarah Barclay, Founder, MMF
What makes a parent start to lose trust in the health professions who are looking after their child? Three things stand out for me in the many conversations I’ve had with parents in my professional life, both as a medical journalist and as a medical mediator:
- Not being listened to
- Not being sufficiently respected as an “expert” in their own child*
- Being told “there’s nothing to worry about” - we call this premature reassurance
Creating a psychologically safe space for clinical teams
by Oscar Mathew, MMF Director
When mediating between two people, the main challenge is working with two narratives that don’t align.
We find conflict such a challenge because we think we’re right, and the other person is the problem. They think they’re right, and (cue audible gasp) we’re the problem. And the clincher: neither person’s conclusion, looking at the territory in front of them, makes sense to the other person.
Resolving conflict between two people is a challenge, often a pronounced one. So what happens when instead of two narratives you have twelve? How do you even start righting the ship with such complexity present?
Challenging the mediation myths
by Dr Clare Sieber
Why you should consider mediation (even if your lawyer seems reluctant!).
I recently stumbled across this article: Why Lawyers Don't use Mediation. Although it is based on a survey of Scottish lawyers, the arguments - or myths as I would prefer to call them - against mediation are well rehearsed and relevant across the whole of the UK. As a mediator, I felt I should present the counter arguments to these myths, based on my own experience.
The challenge of stepping back
by Dr Esse Menson, MMF associate trainer and mediator
One of the key principles of conflict resolution is for us to be able to accept that conflict is more about different perspectives than about right and wrong. This is much easier to do when we are calm because then we are more able to accept the truths and merits of those other perspectives. More willing to appreciate them even though they may be very different from ours.
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