Very often in professional lives, we are teamed up with individuals and given a set of objectives to achieve.

Even with all the right people in the mix teams at times fail miserably; the reason being that they are missing the most important factor, a perfect integration.

Know thy team

To work in teams in a seamless manner it is essential to understand the different roles that people get to play in teams. The most important role is that of a task facilitator. Such people eventually emerge as leaders. They coordinate tasks and set the working pathway.

They find solutions and try to resolve conflicts between members. Then there are those individuals who ensure that the team members are happy at all times. They continuously encourage the team members and urge the team to go along with one another.

But then among all of these people, there are several individuals that have little or no interest in working and would rather take a free ride along with the group than actually work with the group. If you are the team leader you must recognize the categories that your team members fall in. This will ultimately help you deal with them in a much more resourceful manner.

Know thy conflicts

Teams demand effective management and a huge part of effective management is understanding conflicts that can arise in a team.

Conflicts can arise due to several reasons:

  • Shared resources; they can be just about anything that the team needs, from money to information to physical supplies.
  • Various goals; when the goals of the individual members differ from those of the team it is really hard to pull everyone together.
  • Incomplete information; whether intentional or unintentional, in a world where information is gold fragmented or incomplete information can be a huge barrier to any team’s success.
  • Struggle for power and influence; power struggles are a common problem that can arise with individuals working together. There will always be those few individuals that would be in the game for power and glory and can get quite ruthless playing that game.

Know thy solutions

Effective conflict resolution comes from understanding the problem to the core. Only after the problem has been fully understood can proper solutions be proposed for the problem. Establish open communication lines between the people who are in conflict, coerce them to solve the conflict. Encourage people to be flexible and help them try to understand all points of view of any conflict.


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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. AA

    I thought these were supposed to be TIPS on the “how”??? Seems that the article never got past the preamble and intro.
    Also, a rather primitivist view encompassing a nonsensical notion of those who would rather “not work” at all. IMHO, if you have such people on your team, what are you doing having them as part of your staff, taskforce, or whatever larger group you are assembling your team from, in the first place? There are very few people who do not want to contribute in any way, shape or form. If somebody on your team appears to acts like this, there is a very good chance that they simplynfeel discouraged from fully participating because your “team” was not created or lead very well, not because they are an example of this “type X” management theory’s notion of the essentially “lazy” individual. Time to revise the outdated 100-year-old notions, don’t you think?

  2. Otto Nhan

    Well said AA. Simplistic, outdated and lacking congruity.

    Anyone else in the ether noticed a vaccuousness in some posts? Comments will help to raise the bar, one hopes.

    Slatibartfast

  3. Neeshay Imran

    The entire article is composed of three parts, each is an answer to “how” to work effectively as a team.
    Always look at the bigger picture. look too closely and you will lose the sight of it.
    There are always going to be people who would act as free riders. They would not be free riders by nature but by choice, depending on the situation at hand.

  4. Otto Bhan

    This has been an exercise in enlightONEment, eh AA?

    The horse is dead, no sense to hope for more. Two steps left and forward toward serviceable goals and results.

    Namaste Buddha

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