Fostering Collaboration to Prevent Team Conflicts

Do you feel part of a real team? Or are there moments when you feel isolated, uncertain, and disconnected, even though you're surrounded by colleagues? In the early stages of my career, I had the simplistic view that bringing together a bunch of high achievers would naturally create an outstanding team. However, the reality was quite different. Instead of creating synergy, there was noticeable discord. The team didn't seem to gel; it was akin to cogs not aligning in a machine. Every top performer, exceptional in their own right, appeared to follow their own path, often pulling in different directions. The amount of energy and time lost to internal strife was significant, and the expected outcomes? They remained just that – expected. This experience was a clear lesson that the success of a team isn't merely based on individual talent; it's about harmony, alignment, and collaboration. With today’s workplaces being more diverse, widespread, digitized, and ever-changing, achieving this is certainly challenging. So, in my quest to understand the nuances of high-performing teams, I reached out to my friend Hari Haralambiev. As a coach of dev teams who care about people, Hari has worked with numerous tech organizations, guiding them to unlock their teams’ potential. Here are his top 5 tips for developing high performing teams: 1. Be Inclusive ↳Put a structure in place so that the most vocal people don’t suffocate the silent voices. Great teams make sure minority views are heard and taken into account. They make it safe for people to speak up. 2. Leverage Conflict ↳Disagreements should be encouraged and how you handle them is what makes your team poor or great. Great teams mine for conflict - they cherish disagreements. To handle disagreements properly make sure to separate discussion from decision. 3. Decision Making Process ↳Have a clear team decision-making method to resolve conflicts quickly. The most important decision a team should make is how to make decisions. Don’t look for 100% agreement. Look for 100% commitment. 4. Care and Connect ↳This is by far the most important tip. Teams who are oriented only on results are not high-performing. You need to create psychological safety and build trust between people. To do that - focus on actually knowing the other people and to make it safe to be vulnerable in front of others. Say these 4 phrases more often: ‘I don’t know’, ‘I made a mistake’, ‘I’m sorry’, ‘I need help’. 5. Reward experimentation and risk taking ↳No solution is 100% certain. People should feel safe to take risks and make mistakes. Reward smart failure. Over-communicate that it’s better to take action and take accountability than play it safe. Remember, 'team' isn't just a noun—it's a verb. It requires ongoing effort and commitment to work at it, refine it, and nurture it. Do give Hari a follow and join over 6K+ professionals who receive his leadership comics in his newsletter A Leader’s Tale.

I’d like to share some lessons I've learned from years of working with teams. When leaders think about team dynamics they should consider these three: task, social, and individual. Picture this: you're the captain of a ship called "Team Grand," and your crew is a motley assortment of personalities, skills, and quirks. Sound familiar? How do you turn your team from a pirate crew into a well-oiled machine? First up, Task Dynamics. This is the essence of your team's mission. You need clear goals, defined roles, and a way to communicate. I once worked with a tech company that was developing a new app feature. They were so excited. But here's the kicker – they had more communication tools than needed. The result? More confusion! So, what did we do? We streamlined those channels faster. Efficiency was restored! Next on is Social Dynamics. It's about building those bonds that turn your team from a group of random people into a team. It includes team purpose and identity, interaction, relationships, conflict resolution, and building trust. A company I worked with had a mission statement that was not inspiring. So, we made revisiting the mission statement a regular thing. And it worked! People started feeling like they were part of something bigger. But wait, there's more! This same company had a conflict resolution strategy that was basically "ignore it and hope it goes away." So, we dove into some conflict resolution learning, for the whole team! And things got better! Finally, we've got Personal Dynamics. This is where you zoom in on each team member. These include elements such as the personal traits, behaviors, and contributions of each team member. I once coached a cross-functional team that was not really operating in sync. The team comprised members who performed at different levels, initially hindering the achievement of their OKRs. Additionally, the team struggled with personal development, as many members felt their growth was stifled within the team context. High stress levels further impacted their productivity. So, we introduced personalized development plans. We also launched a stress management program and enabled more flexible work hours. These enabled individual growth, reduced stress, and enhanced the team's overall performance. So, fellow leaders, should you choose to accept it: Think about these three dynamics and weave them into your team's DNA. Understanding these categories helps in analyzing, improving, and transforming team dynamics for better performance, engagement, and commitment. #teamdynamics, #performance #accountability #groupcoaching #leadership ------------------------------------------------ I am an Executive Coach, an Organizational Development Consultant, and an HR Executive who helps leaders scale their impact and ensure high performance. Need help to take the leap? Get in touch! Follow me: for more. My Free newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gn95hfyV ----------------------------------------------

How I create a sense of teamwork... Success is a collective effort, not the result of one individual. Here are tips for supportive teams! 🚀 Create a shared vision and goals • What is the team working towards? • What is the motivation to put in 100%? When each person understands how critical their actions and ideas are, they become much more engaged and eager to work towards a shared objective. But don't assume that the team recognizes how critical a role they play. Communicate repeatedly how they contribute, the benefits of their contribution, and the end results. 🚀 Foster a culture of communication • Does the team ask each other questions? • How often does the team seek input? For teams to work together, they need to communicate often and with clarity. Feedback, questions, and advice needs to flow up, down, and around the team hierarchy. Employ tools for communication and promote transparency. For example, meetings and processes exist in a shared wiki. Slack provides asynchronous communication. Standups, team meetings, and opportunities to brainstorm together are a regular part of daily, weekly, and monthly schedules. 🚀 Provide the chance for collaboration • Who owns tasks or projects? • Are resources shared? Siloed information can exist within a team. For example, person A has created spreadsheets that would benefit everyone, but they aren't shared. Or person B is pulling out their hair with new and unfamiliar software, even though person C is an expert. Create opportunities for each person to share resources, assistance, and ideas. 🚀 Address bullying, microaggressions, and conflict • Who never volunteers ideas in meetings? Why? • Does the atmosphere ever shift for the worse? Let's hope that a person misspeaks rather than intentionally belittles a team member. "You didn't know that?!" is a favorite example of an unintentional putdown. It signals that everyone else knows the information, just not the person. In short, it means: "Are you stupid?!" Address any problems as soon as possible, if not immediately. When people don't feel safe volunteering ideas, they will not readily work as a team. PS. What do you do to foster teamwork? 🔔 Follow Chris Cotter for more on #leadership.