The day before yesterday I spoke with a production manager who said: "I think my team and I need support in finally saying out loud everything that's currently on our minds."
An interesting conversation — and just having it already helped him. He reflected on what currently feels off, and where he wants to move into a more active, shaping role.
One interesting aspect: we discussed to what extent it makes sense for him to now go into one-on-one conversations with his colleagues. My view on this is that — if possible — the game of telephone should be avoided. At the same time, the leader has to maintain confidentiality and can't share something from one conversation, or represent a colleague's position, in another individual conversation. So it's usually better to get everyone around the table right away.
Also: especially in that kind of environment, it's often about supposed "facts" — conversations are allegedly kept purely on a factual level. We discussed how much of the conflict actually sits on the emotional (relational) level.
As part of my training, I also got to engage with mediation. During my observation placements, I exchanged ideas on this with, among others, Christian Freitag and Ricardo Wiedenbrüg. I'm convinced that the methodology and the principles behind it are enormously important for supporting teams in crisis.