Mark is a confident extrovert who has been a competent team member for a number of years. He often steps up as team leader when Gary is away.
Phil is also a competent team member but is an introvert and prefers to consider tasks for longer than Mark would, before commencing action.
One day circumstances required Mark and Phil to work together to complete an urgent important and complex task. Mark had decided what needed to be done and wanted to get cracking on it. Phil objected and said he'd like to give it more thought first and felt that perhaps Mark's approach might be too risky.
They couldn't agree and went to Gary to get resolution. Gary said, "Guys, you sort it out, but I want it done by the set time. Now please get on with it."
Mark went out and began doing the job his way. Phil refused to assist and withdrew. Mark was happy with that and simply said "Good".
From that time on Mark and Phil avoided each other and would use any excuse to be unavailable to work with the other. The rest of the team became divided in their support for either Mark or Phil. Soon the team effectively morphed into two smaller teams and Gary because frustrated with the resulting loss of productivity and the increasing separation of the two factions.
The extrovert faction then developed further splits as their alpha male behaviour led to more arguments.
The introvert faction became a group of individuals as they all withdrew into their own shells.
Gary now had real problems meeting targets and deadlines.
Gary went to his mentor and explained the situation and asked for some advice about resolving the situation.
If you were Gary’s mentor, what would be your advice?
