Understanding and resolving conflict to create cultures of well-being in diverse teams
Abstract
The 2022 American Hospital Association (AHA) Study, published by the Task Force on Workforce, reported that 75–93 per cent of healthcare workers reported stress, anxiety, frustration, exhaustion and burnout.1 The AHA Task Force recommendations included an immediate focus on creating a culture of well-being and an ongoing focus on leadership development. Team well-being is a broadly defined term related to team happiness and success. Various teamwork and leadership interventions are used to achieve team well-being, and this has been a high priority for organisations in the last few years as the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in massive rates of burnout and exodus from healthcare. We specifically focus here on diverse teams and the effect of negative conflict resolution on team well-being, specifically through its damaging effect on the formation of a culture of safety and belonging. Belonging and safety are created through subtle cues and messages as well as through the outcomes of threshold moments, such as a conflict. Belonging is particularly important for diverse teams because it is not automatically assumed by team members in the way that homogeneous teams do more easily. Studies have shown that diverse teams are more prone to conflict and that the process of conflict resolution can lead to either an increase in team belonging and connection (and well-being) or further distancing, which is then linked to burnout, disengagement and exodus from the workplace. Therefore, how conflict is managed in diverse teams is of crucial importance for team leaders in order to achieve team belonging and well-being.
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Author's Biography
Marzena Buzanowska , MD, MHA, is an assistant professor of medicine, associate medical director at River City Sports and Spine and Interventional Spine fellowship director. She is the founder of Leadership Breakthroughs Academy, where she coaches leaders and organisations on a neuroscience-informed leadership framework. Dr Buzanowska has been a speaker at national meetings on implicit bias, effective teamwork, developing cultures of inclusion and belonging and transformative conflict resolution.
Mary Rensel , MD, FAAN, is an assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and director of pediatric multiple sclerosis and well-being at the Mellen Center of the Cleveland Clinic. She has been named ‘Best Doctor’ of Cleveland since 2010 by the Cleveland Magazine. Dr Rensel is a national speaker in academia and business settings and even had a spot on Good Morning America and on The Moth Stage. She is the owner of Brain Fresh, a neuroscience-based professional development company.
Citation
Buzanowska, Marzena and Rensel, Mary (2024, March 1). Understanding and resolving conflict to create cultures of well-being in diverse teams. In the Management in Healthcare: A Peer-Reviewed Journal, Volume 8, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.69554/YJGC4790.
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