Problem Context

A study by McKinsey & Company found that lack of communication and collaboration was the second most frequently cited reason for project failure, with 28% of survey respondents citing this issue. Another report by Atlassian found that poor communication and collaboration was the top reason for failed projects, with 44% of survey respondents reporting this issue. These statistics show that poor communication in teams can have a major impact on a company‘s productivity, and it‘s important for organizations to invest in effective communication and collaboration practices in order to improve outcomes.  

On the other hand, employees are becoming more afraid of confronting co-workers they do not get along too well with. This often occurs when employees in teams misunderstand each other, or when their needs are not met. Communication then becomes very difficult, creating more arguments and a toxic work environment. Constant miscommunication dampens team spirit and reduces productivity.

Research Question and Personas

This finding leads us to question: 

How might we make the conflict resolution process in a complex work environment meaningful and engaging?

Our new research question focussed on conflict resolution and building meaningful relationships between employees in a team. For this reason, we selected two main personas based on our research and interviews. The first persona is an employee (a team lead) and the second persona is a manager within the same organization. 

First Persona: The employee (Design team lead) named  Riya is a 28-year-old immigrant from India. Her Team has not been meeting deadlines due to intra-team conflicts. She has been burnt out and needs to discuss this with her director but is afraid of confrontation and his argumentative nature.

Second Persona: The manager, (Creative Director), named Jan, is a 40-year-old local German. He is busy scheduling meetings with the CEO, and clients and contacting other important players in the industry. He is always occupied and result oriented. Due to a large number of deliverables, he is unable to dedicate time to talk or patiently listen to the problems of the team lead. He is also argumentative and short-tempered by nature.

What is Conflix?

Conflix is a card game designed to facilitate communication between our two personas Jan and Riya.

The game is based on the principles of non-violent-communication (NVC), by Marshall B Rosenberg. NVC focuses on fostering empathy between people in personal or professional settings. Building on those principles, NVC utilizes four language components:

• Observations: Without any judgment, observe what others are doing that you like or do not like.
• Feelings: Say how you feel when you observe this action.
• Needs: State the important needs that are connected to those feelings.
• Requests: Make a specific request that might help attend to those needs.

For Conflix cards, these components have been changed and adapted to a corporate context:

• Observations (pink): the context of the conflict, e.g. too many tasks, time management
• Feelings (light green): how the employee feels about the situation, e.g. anxious, stressed
• Needs (violet): what are the employee‘s core emotional needs, e.g. cooperation, support
• Requests (turquoise): what the employee would like to receive from the co-worker, e.g. regular updates

The purpose of the game is to resolve a conflict and reach a mutual decision. Therefore, all discussions and conversations are intended to achieve a positive outcome.

How does Conflix work?