Continuing our series looking at coaching tools and techniques, Coaching at Work road-tests the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument
1 The tool
What is it?
The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) assesses an individual’s behaviour in conflict situations. It is measured along two dimensions: assertiveness and co-operativeness. These can be used to define five modes of dealing with conflicts: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating.
Concise definitions of each mode are given, with a page on interpreting your scores, a full-page description of each mode, what situations it might be appropriate in and diagnostic questions to help demonstrate when it might be over- or under-used.
The TKI is not prescriptive; in a very simple way it focuses attention on how the client prefers, generally, to behave in potential conflict situations. It then prompts the client to become more self-aware and reflect on whether it may be more effective to use a range of approaches.
How does it work?
The client completes a short pencil and paper questionnaire, which they self-score and interpret using a booklet. Scores can be charted on a two-dimensional graph with percentiles derived from managerial norms. The booklet allows the client to keep their own record of their score, but also to compare it with those of others.
2 The administrator
Using the tool
The TKI is quick and easy to do and needs no special training. I use it with coaching clients who are in a dynamic where they need to align their goals with someone else’s.
Other benefits of improving conflict handling skills include: strengthening relationships, increasing effectiveness, developing performance, reducing stress, improving morale and saving time.
The TKI is also a useful team-building instrument as it generates debate.
It can be marked by the client in advance and the results ‘downloaded’ with the coach. This is far preferable to handing out questionnaires ‘cold’ and not feeding back. This way, the results can stimulate a great deal of useful discussion.
The verdict
The TKI focuses on a potentially sensitive aspect of behaviour in an open and matter-of-fact way. The booklet treats conflict as a given (which in the UK we can be squeamish about). It gently encourages clients to question their styles and quickly teaches them to realise that the same mode in every situation is not always going to win friends, let alone influence people.
The brevity of the instrument is not matched by the price – £10 per participant is, in my view, rather high, especially for voluntary, public sector and SMEs. The other criticism is to do with the word ‘conflict’ in the title. I frequently have to damp down preconceptions that this is about aggression or ‘war’.
The TKI can be used in any situation where goals differ. Indeed, it can help in most interpersonal encounters.
The expanded booklets give more useful information and flesh out detail. The team booklet emphasises the value of appreciating other people’s styles and building on strengths – a useful piece of coaching for increasing anyone’s emotional intelligence. It also has passages on what causes conflict in teams, what makes conflict positive or negative, what is behind each style, how to deal more effectively with other people’s styles, a whole chapter on what your team’s conflict style might be, and action prompts.
The team-building element of the TKI is invaluable as it will encourage colleagues to reflect on how their style interfaces with others’ (not always constructively), promotes discussions about different personalities, encourages examples and sometimes airs issues. It is also highly relevant to leadership, persuasion, influencing and potential bullying scenarios.
Overall, I find the TKI an inspiring tool to open up discussion about personal style, both at home and work. It stimulates a cumulative learning curve that stays and grows with the client long after the event.
Lynne Spencer is a work psychologist, coach and facilitator
3 The client
The experience
I am a GP in a small rural practice and I belong to a peer group of part-time doctors who form a ‘learning set’. We invite speakers to talk on various topics and also have an annual ‘half-day’ personal development meeting that is sometimes led by Lynne.
Lynne has also worked with the practice, focusing on team building.
I have therefore taken the TKI both in a peer group setting and with practice colleagues.
It was quite challenging for me – and I think this is possibly true for many doctors – to consider the idea of ‘conflict’ at all. It has rather negative connotations to do with complaints and the General Medical Council!
Lynne overcame our reticence – once she had explained the model it was easy to understand the relevance – as a person, for consultations and when working as a team. It was also helpful to be told that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ style, but that there may be situations
in which a different approach is more helpful.
The questionnaire was straightforward, and it was interesting to see how the questions were paired to make sure the evaluation was as accurate as possible. I ruefully agreed that I am a compromiser.
In our work with Lynne (which includes MBTI) I have found that the initial result has an ‘aha’ effect, but it is when you consider the other ‘types’ that the real opportunities for change and growth become apparent. We all see the world so much through our own spectacles and it is so helpful to see that there are other ways to interpret and respond to events.
Thus, it was very interesting to look at some of the conflict types that were under-represented in a group of female doctors (such as competing) and realise that there were some circumstances in which different behaviour could be appropriate.
Taking the TKI in the peer group was an affirming exercise in personal growth, but using the instrument with my colleagues was a different experience – both illuminating and dynamic.
The TKI has really helped us with some of our management problems and has continued to be very useful. It has also allowed us to have a kind of internal communication ‘shortcut’ when conflict arises. It’s more OK to talk about someone having a ‘competing approach’ than to emulate their behaviour to ‘get even’ – or to retire silent and wounded.
Dr Sara Beattie is a general practitioner
The TKI can be ordered from the publisher OPP (http://shop.opp.eu.com/) and comes in a slim A4 booklet (£99.50 + VAT), for a pack of 10.
There are two further and fuller books in the range, Introduction to Conflict Management and Introduction to Conflict and Teams, each at £14.50
Coaching at Work, Volume 6, Issue 5