Many people have topics that they have strong feelings about.Global Warming, Abortion Rights, Politics, Religion, etc. are just a few of these topics.Often these topics come up in teams, and if a member does not share the same prospective as others in the team, his or her suggestions can be devalued and, in extreme cases, the individual can be ostracized.A few years ago I was on a team charged with fundraising events for a local literacy organization.There were 5 of us on this team and the topic of Global Warming came up in one of the early team meetings.Global warming obviously had nothing to do with the topic, but it was of interest to the group.The team leader apparently did not recognize the danger of this topic and it quickly got out of hand.One of the first comments was by a very wealthy business owner who told the group that global warming was just a silly idea perpetrated on a gullible public by liberal politicians.One member took offense at this business owner's statement and went on to say that global warming was real and the problem was not automobile emissions; it was beef cows.(Yes, this really happened!!)The person went on to say that beef cows farted a lot and their farts were damaging the ozone layer.He stated that if we eliminated all beef cows, we could cure global warming.You get the point, and I will stop the story here; but suffice it to say, this argument destroyed the team and it was disbanded.

What skills and tactics can a team leader use to keep the team focused and diffuse differences of opinion that threaten the functionality of the team?