Building Conflict Competent Teams

Epilogue

Conflict is the primary engine of creativity and innovation.

—Ronald Heifetz

On August 15, 2003, for one of the very few times since their historic gold medal performance twenty-three years earlier, the members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team gathered. This reunion was of a much more somber nature than ever before. Their coach, Herb Brooks, had died several days earlier in a car accident. Team members reflected again on the often chaotic relationship forged with Coach Brooks so many years earlier. They shared stories of their trials, conflicts, and challenges. They smiled when recalling the climate they created, the interactions they shared, the relationships they built, and the accomplishments they achieved. Once again they were together as a team. In many ways, they picked up right where they left off. Born out of conflict and controversy so many years before, the players stood again as one to pay their final respects to the man who had led them to international prominence. The challenge now was not of conflict or competition. It was that of supporting Coach Brooks's family in this time of loss and supporting one another. The climate they established nearly a quarter-century before still existed. They were there for one another, empathizing, caring, and giving as a team.

Organizations of all types have come to rely on teams to carry out their business objectives. In our first book, Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader, we focused on the influence leaders have regarding ...