5 Strategies to Lead Through Conflict in Times of Disruption
Disruption shakes up routines, roles, and expectations. As people struggle to regain their footing, stress levels rise. It’s normal for conflict and tension to emerge. In fact, conflict during disruption is often a sign that people still care enough to advocate for their ideas, values, and contributions.
Take, for example, a senior leadership team I worked with last year during a large-scale restructuring. Their organization was merging product lines and laying off nearly 20% of staff. Tensions were high, and conflict spiked among team members who had once collaborated smoothly. Disagreements over resource allocation, turf boundaries, and strategic priorities created daily friction. At first, the CEO saw this conflict as a threat, worried that it would derail execution. But by naming the stress everyone was under and creating structured opportunities to surface concerns, the team began to see conflict as a healthy signal of what mattered most. Over time, they transformed those heated debates into constructive decisions — ultimately emerging with a stronger, more cohesive strategy.
Neuroscience backs this up: under acute stress and uncertainty, the brain’s amygdala becomes more active, priming us for fight-or-flight responses and making us more reactive to perceived threats — even those coming from colleagues we trust. This means leaders must intentionally create conditions of psychological safety so that conflict does not trigger defensive, unhelpful patterns. Instead, it can become a catalyst for learning, creativity, and growth.
But here’s the challenge: When left unmanaged, conflict can spiral into blame, avoidance, or disengagement — making an already volatile environment even harder to navigate. Research shows that conflict avoidance costs organizations billions each year through lost productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. In disrupted times, those costs compound rapidly.
So what can leaders do?
1. Normalize tension.
Remind your team that disagreement is a natural part of navigating change. When people expect conflict, they’re less likely to see it as personal failure. Normalize language around “healthy friction” and frame it as a sign of diverse perspectives working toward a shared goal. Reassure people that respectful disagreement can build stronger solutions, rather than weaken relationships. Over time, this reframing helps team members build resilience for future challenges.
2. Address issues early.
Don’t wait for tension to explode. Name what you see, ask curious questions, and create space for people to share concerns before they harden into resentments. Early intervention prevents conflict from growing roots and spreading through rumor or passive resistance. Proactively checking in with people also signals your commitment to a fair, transparent environment. As a leader, showing you are willing to engage difficult topics sets the tone for others to do the same.
3. Separate intention from impact.
During disruption, good people sometimes say or do things that land badly. Help your team distinguish between someone’s intentions and the unintended impact of their actions — this keeps the conversation constructive. For example, someone may intend to drive accountability but come across as micromanaging. Naming this difference reduces blame and fosters learning. Encourage people to clarify both what they hoped to achieve and how it was actually received.
4. Anchor to shared purpose.
Conflict is easier to resolve when everyone remembers what they’re trying to achieve together. Come back to the bigger mission, so the team can realign around what matters most. In times of disruption, purpose can feel distant or obscured by urgent firefighting. Reconnecting to that north star helps people rise above personal clashes and focus on collective impact. It also restores a sense of meaning and direction, which is essential during change.
5. Support emotional regulation.
Under stress, people’s nervous systems can become reactive. Model self-regulation — pausing, breathing, staying grounded — and encourage others to do the same. Small actions like taking a breath before responding can calm the amygdala and reactivate the prefrontal cortex, supporting clear thinking. You might also build in short grounding practices during high-stakes meetings. These stabilizing habits strengthen the team’s capacity to navigate conflict productively.
Conflict during disruption is inevitable — but it doesn’t have to be destructive. When you normalize tension, address issues early, and help your team stay grounded in shared purpose, you transform conflict from a threat into a catalyst for growth. These moments, handled skillfully, can strengthen relationships, spark innovation, and build trust that lasts far beyond the crisis.
If you’re ready to lead your team through disruption with greater confidence and clarity — and build the skills to turn tension into tenacity — our Lead Through Disruption program can help. You’ll gain practical frameworks, powerful tools, and a community of like-minded leaders committed to thriving through change.
Learn more about Lead Through Disruption and reserve your spot today.
Leadership Practice: Constructive Conflict Check-In
The next time you sense tension on your team, pause and ask yourself:
What am I noticing about how conflict is showing up?
What might be fueling it — stress, role confusion, loss of control?
What conversation needs to happen to move this forward?
Then take one small step to open that conversation, grounded in curiosity and empathy.
“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.” -Mahatma Gandhi
Author
Athena Williams, Founder and CEO of Tenacious Leadership Institute, has been supporting leaders worldwide to become more tenacious for over 20 years. She has found that tenacity is the key to sustained leadership success in today’s ever-changing world. Through her coaching and leadership development programs, she helps leaders expertly handle change, complexity and other challenges so they can quickly get better results for themselves, their teams and their organizations.
Take the first step to becoming a tenacious leader by scheduling a call with us.
