by Michael Holland

Imagine driving down a winding road with your team, each person in a separate car. The road ahead is uncertain, filled with twists and turns that require clear communication and decision-making.

Some drivers are eager to lead, while others are cautious, hesitant, or even a little bit lost. At some point, the road gets narrow, and a conflict emerges.  Someone wants to take one direction, while someone else insists on a different route.

How do you resolve this? Do you drive over each other’s paths or stop and discuss? The answer is found in healthy conflict, a crucial element in ensuring your team moves forward together.

Patrick Lencioni’s Conflict Continuum offers a framework for navigating these moments of tension with purpose and clarity. But the way your team handles conflict depends not just on the situation but also on your team’s dynamics, something that the Everything DiSC® assessment can help you understand better.

Lencioni’s Conflict Continuum: Finding Balance

Lencioni defines conflict as a continuum that ranges from passive avoidance to productive debate. Here’s the breakdown:

  1. Avoidance – Conflict is ignored. While it might feel safe, unresolved issues can lead to stagnation and missed opportunities.

  2. Productive Debate – Healthy conflict lives here. Team members express differing views respectfully, challenge ideas, and drive innovation without personal attacks.

  3. Personal Attacks – Conflict turns toxic. Rather than focusing on ideas, team members attack each other, undermining collaboration.

The goal is to keep your team in the productive debate zone, where differences of opinion lead to stronger decisions and better outcomes.

DiSC® Styles and Conflict

Your team’s DiSC style plays a huge role in how they handle conflict. Here’s how each type might react:

  • D (Dominance): Direct and results-oriented, but might need to soften their approach to keep things respectful.

  • I (Influence): Tends to avoid conflict, so encouraging them to engage constructively can unlock great ideas.

  • S (Steadiness): Seeks harmony and avoids tension, but needs to understand that conflict can improve team dynamics.

  • C (Conscientiousness): Analytical and prefers to focus on facts, sometimes avoiding emotional aspects of conflict but may suppress key insights if too focused on logic.

Practical Insights

  1. Create a Safe Space
    Encourage team members to voice their opinions respectfully. Healthy conflict thrives in a trusting environment.

  2. Lean Into Discomfort
    Recognize when to gently push your team out of their comfort zones to ensure all viewpoints are heard, not just the loudest ones.

  3. Frame Conflict as Opportunity
    Use disagreement as a catalyst for innovation. The clash of ideas can spark better solutions.

Healthy conflict is essential for growth. By applying Lencioni’s framework and leveraging DiSC styles, you can turn disagreements into opportunities to strengthen your team’s collaboration and decision-making.

Coaching Thoughts – For You and Your Peers

  • How do you personally handle conflict in your team?

  • What can you do to encourage your team to engage in healthy conflict?

  • Which DiSC styles are underrepresented in your team’s conflict conversations?

  • Grab a peer leader and go deeper.  Watch Patrick Lencioni’s 3-minute video and discuss your thoughts.

Related Leadership Learning Moments:

  1. More Productive Workplaces with Everything DiSC Infographic
  2. The Key Ingredients for Building (or Re-Building) a Cohesive Team
  3. Get Naked to Build a Cohesive Team
  4. 6 Hidden Assumptions that Limit Your Team’s Effectiveness
  5. Create Organizational Clarity
  6. Ways to Leverage Your Team’s DiSC Map