What is Functional Conflict and How Can You Benefit?
How to upgrade your viewpoint on conflict within the contact centre and reap the benefits of functional conflict to improve your work environment.
These days, you can’t flip through television channels without hearing some reality TV personality telling someone else to “save the drama.” No one wants unnecessary conflict, especially in the workplace. But while we’re quick to say we want no more “drama,” what if conflict could actually be productive?
Not all conflict is helpful, of course. But there is a particular type of conflict that can be beneficial for an institution: functional conflict. Functional conflict is defined as “conflict that supports the goals of the group and improves its performance.” It seems a bit unorthodox to think of conflict as a beneficial force in the workplace, so let’s unpack this a bit.
What Is Functional Conflict?
No wise businessperson would advocate for ramping up conflict in the workplace. However, it’s also hard to imagine great leaders in the history of politics and business arriving at their places at the top of empires without hearing and applying the opinions of the other side. Those who don’t include opposing opinions have a special word dedicated to them: dictator.
Functional conflict actually supports the work you’re doing because it’s in line with the goals of your firm. Far beyond the petty infighting of interpersonal conflict lies the realm of functional conflict, where problems actually get resolved because concerns are heard and acted upon. Functional conflict can lead to a host of benefits, including:
- Enhanced productivity – Pointing out weaknesses in the contact centre system can help them actually get resolved.
- New insights – Listening to the concerns your agents share may help you work out kinks in your service model or supply chain so you can improve the customer experience.
- Improved employee interaction – When conflict is addressed rather than ignored, problems get resolved and employees are better able to function as a team.
Are you starting to see a new perspective on conflict?
How to Benefit from Functional Conflict
Client service centre managers who make their workspaces safe places to air and act on functional conflicts improve office culture and employee morale. Agents who are afraid to air their concerns don’t feel safe in their workplace and don’t feel loyal to their team. This leads to the dreaded high rates of employee turnover in many contact centres, a frustrating and expensive problem to have.
In fact, Forrester Research found that some contact centres have exceedingly high attrition rates, often between 50 and 100 percent per year! How can you possibly provide excellent customer service if all your time, energy, and expense must be constantly invested in controlling excessive agent turnover?
One way to quell this issue is to improve workplace culture by welcoming and attending to functional conflict. A collaborative workplace that encourages group activity may foster a more peaceful work environment. This is difficult to achieve in a contact centre, where employees spend a great deal of time working independently at their own workstations, which means managers must go the extra mile to attend to conflict as it arises.
As a manager, here are a few steps you can take to encourage the open exchange of ideas and issues within your contact centre and benefit from the fruits of resolved functional conflict:
- Set clear expectations – Make sure employees know that it’s all right to have and share an opposing opinion, as long as the goal is to improve operational function.
- Encourage employees to speak – Establish your office as a safe space in which employees are encouraged to share their issues and ideas.
- Be kind – Never publicly shame an employee for sharing an issue or conflict.
- Keep it not personal – Make it clear that personal shaming or attacks are not welcome in your workplace.
Running away from conflict will put your contact centre on the fast track to destruction by dysfunction. Apply the insights above to help encourage a safe, functional workplace and make employees feel their insights and opinions are valid. For more ideas on how to effectively manage your contact centre’s operations – both in-house and by engaging a quality third-party support service – check out our free white paper.
