There is no one-size-fits-all approach to assembling and managing teams. Each team is unique, requiring different strategies to be effective. What's more, the needs of a team can evolve over time; what works at the beginning of a project might not be suitable by the middle or end. The key lies in developing a versatile leadership toolkit, allowing you to select the right tool at the right moment, use it as long as needed, and then switch to another when the situation changes.

Teams are designed to unite various skill sets, ideas, perspectives, and experiences to achieve goals that are beyond the reach of individuals or small groups. Having everyone possess the same skills and experiences can stifle progress rather than drive it forward.

However, being different alone isn't enough. Team members must be willing to share their ideas openly. Unheard thoughts benefit no one. This requires a foundation of mutual respect, where each person values what others have to say. Additionally, creating an environment where everyone can express their thoughts without encountering bottlenecks is crucial.

In essence, effective teams are built on two main pillars: various skill sets, ideas, perspectives, and experiences, and a culture of valuing and listening to each other's opinions. These are the cornerstones of successful teamwork.

So, where does teamwork go wrong? And as leaders, how can we create teams that truly work?

Pitfalls to Avoid: Common Mistakes That Undermine Effective Teams

In any team, certain challenges can arise that hinder the flow of new ideas, different perspectives, and overall effective teamwork. This article operates under the assumption that team members are working in good faith and not intentionally trying to disrupt the team dynamics. However, even with the best intentions, things can go awry. Here’s a closer look at the significant challenges and how to overcome them.

Free Riding:

Free riding occurs when some team members rely on others to do the work, leading to a lack of contribution from everyone. This issue can stem from various sources:

• Lack of Communication and Leadership: When tasks aren't clearly assigned or discussed in team settings, confusion about responsibilities can arise. This often leads to the assumption that someone else will handle the work, resulting in no one actually doing it.
• Poor Tracking of Deliverables and Timelines: Without someone monitoring the project's progress, tasks can be postponed under the assumption they will be addressed later. This encourages procrastination and a lack of participation.
• Overconfidence in the Group: Believing that the team is highly capable can lead to the assumption that others will pick up any slack. Unfortunately, this often results in work not being completed and individuals not contributing their fair share.
• Dominance of a Strong Majority: When a few team members dominate, others might hold back, thinking their contributions are not valued. This stifles new ideas and perspectives and pulls some members along without active participation.

Solutions: To address free riding, designate one person (or an AI tool) to take meeting notes and track project schedules. Monitoring individual contributions can also help. Often, just knowing that contributions are being tracked is enough to motivate participation. Ensuring clear communication about priorities and deliverables is crucial to prevent these issues.

Fear of Rejection:

Team members may be hesitant to share new ideas for fear of negative judgment. This is particularly common among less experienced or new members. However, these individuals often bring fresh perspectives that can spark valuable discussions.

Creating an Open Environment: Leaders must set a tone of respect and openness, making it clear that all voices are heard without judgment. A practical strategy is to pause discussions periodically and invite input from quieter team members. For instance, saying, “I’d love to hear Jane Doe’s thoughts on this issue,” can signal that every opinion is valued.

Having someone in authority make such statements can set a positive tone, disrupt groupthink, and boost overall creativity.

Conformity:

While conformity can be beneficial in ensuring that the team stops deliberating and starts working, it can go too far and result in a lack of critical thinking. When conformity leads to capitulation, team members may stop identifying potential issues that contradict the current path.

Solution: Leaders should establish clear timeframes for open discussion and periods dedicated to work. After work phases, the team should reconvene to review and adjust. Methods like Agile employ this by dedicating specific times to planning, working, and reviewing. During planning and review phases, encourage non-conforming behavior by having each member present their part of the project. This approach fosters respectful criticism (after all, they will be criticized too) and ensures that all voices are heard.

Informational Influence:

When certain team members have more information or knowledge than others about a topic, other team members may hold back their ideas. They may be less confident or afraid of being judged harshly by the team. This leads to overconfidence and stifled creativity.

Solution: It's essential to balance expert input with space for all voices. Break the team into smaller groups for certain activities, allowing ideas to flow more freely without the dominance of experts. This approach helps ensure that all members can contribute and innovate.

Normative Influence:

Team members may adjust their behavior to fit in, avoiding confrontation and potentially stifling valuable ideas. Most people want to feel accepted among their coworkers and may avoid speaking up to prevent conflicts.

Solution: Foster a team culture that values healthy discussion and respectful disagreement. Normalize differing opinions and ensure that meetings are environments where it's safe to disagree. This encourages members to share their ideas without fear of rejection, while still maintaining a balance of conformity and productivity.

Blind Obedience:

This occurs when authority figures exert control, leading others to comply even when they know it's wrong. Numerous studies have shown that people will follow orders from superiors, even when those orders contradict their own judgment.

Solution: Delegate the authority of team meetings to less senior members. This creates a checks-and-balances system where the team leader manages the workflow, while senior employees contribute without dominating. This structure maintains a positive environment and prevents blind obedience.

Middle Status Conformity:

Middle managers may avoid rocking the boat due to their position, leading to a lack of innovative ideas. They face unique pressures: wanting to move up the organization while avoiding actions that could jeopardize their current status. They are, however, typically excellent at creating and executing plans to achieve success. They sacrifice creativity for performance.

Solution: Utilize middle managers' strengths in execution and organization, while not expecting revolutionary ideas from them. Praise their ability to execute plans and keep them engaged by valuing their organizational skills. This balance helps maintain productivity and stability. Recognizing the inherent strengths and weaknesses of their position allows for a more strategic approach to team management.

Polarization:

It’s human nature to gravitate toward other people that share our ideas, beliefs, and ways of thinking. This effect gets amplified in team settings when there are others present that share your ideas, have evidence that those ideas are correct, and are communicating it in a way that is new. Over time, people tend to form sub groups of like minded people which become an echo chamber of ideas. This can greatly stifle innovation, creativity, and lead to some of the other problems discussed such as over confidence and blind obedience.

Solution: Periodically change team structures and sub-groups. Assign different leaders for various functions to prevent stagnation and promote fresh ideas. This keeps the team dynamic and focused on the best solutions. Encouraging different team configurations and leadership roles helps prevent the formation of rigid sub-groups.

Deviants:

Deviants are members who think differently but may not speak up, fearing they are against the group's momentum. This can lead to disengagement and conformity, even when multiple members share similar dissenting thoughts.

Solution: Encourage a culture of speaking up by designating one or two "deviants" in meetings whose role is to challenge ideas. This forces the team to consider all aspects of issues.

Caution: Having every meeting turn into a stream of justification for every thought and action can be exhausting and lead to burn out, distrust, and a drop in productivity. Use this method occasionally to spice things up. The team will appreciate a change of pace, and it will seem fun if it doesn’t become every meeting.

Common Knowledge:

Common knowledge happens when a diverse team comes together and, instead of focusing on bringing their unique background to the problem, they focus instead on building a consensus. Instead of discussing different things, they end up discussing how they are all the same. Over time this leads to a development of common knowledge instead of new perspectives and ideas. It’s human nature to want to form bonds of familiarity with people we don’t know yet. This is usually good, however in a team setting it can lead to less-than-ideal outcomes.

Solution: Leaders should push the team to highlight their unique skills and backgrounds. Individual meetings with team members can help encourage them to bring their perspectives to the table. Emphasizing the value of each member's unique contribution ensures that the team's collective knowledge is fully utilized.

Overconfidence:

Overconfidence often arises when you have a team of individuals with similar skills, backgrounds, and mindsets. They tend to quickly reach the same conclusions, raise little doubt about their actions, and use the same information and justifications for their work. While this can sometimes streamline decision-making, it can also lead to setting overly ambitious goals and stubbornly pursuing them, even when they are not the right path.

Pitfalls of Overconfidence:

• Ambitious but Unrealistic Goals: Teams may set goals that are too ambitious, leading to inevitable failure.
• Lack of Critical Reflection: There’s a tendency to skip progress checks and avoid dissenting opinions, making course corrections difficult.
• Poor Task Distribution: Tasks are not effectively distributed, leading to inefficiencies and missed deadlines.

Solution: A leader in this case should be prepared to act as the guide for the team. Make sure they are staying on track, adjust their course if you see failure ahead, and make sure they pause from time to time to reflect and analyze their performance.

Relationship Conflict:

Relationship conflicts occur when team members start questioning each other's intentions and commitment. Although rare, such conflicts can quickly erode trust and respect, which are crucial for effective teamwork.

Implications of Relationship Conflicts:

• Damage to Trust and Respect: Trust and respect are foundational to a functional team. Conflicts can severely undermine these.
• Disruption to Team Dynamics: Such conflicts distract from the team's main goals and can create a toxic environment.

Solution: When relationship conflicts arise, leaders should immediately initiate a side-bar discussion with the involved parties and possibly their managers. Isolating the conflict until it’s resolved prevents further damage to the team's dynamics. Only once the issues are resolved should the parties reintegrate into the team.

Process Conflict:

Process conflicts stem from fundamental disagreements on how work should be done. These disputes can derail meetings and confuse team members about their objectives and methods.

Consequences of Process Conflicts:

• Distraction from Main Goals: Arguments about processes can distract from the team's primary objectives.
• Coordination Breakdown: Confusion about procedures can lead to poor coordination and information sharing.
• Negative Impact on Culture: Persistent process disputes can lead to infighting, finger pointing, and undermines the team’s morale.

Solution: Leaders should build a consensus on the workflow before meetings begin. If process disagreements arise, address them immediately and separate them from the main discussion to maintain focus. Let the team know that these topics will be pushed to a separate meeting. Clear guidelines on procedures can prevent confusion and foster a more harmonious work environment.

Creating and Utilizing Positive Teams: Practical Insights

Drawing from my experience, here are some positive strategies to help you create and utilize effective teams.

Inform Team Members Ahead of Time

Always inform team members about topics, issues, and procedures before meetings. Strive for as much consensus as possible beforehand. By the time the meeting comes around, the issues should already be clearly defined. The purpose of the meeting is then to discuss future project issues, not rehash known topics.

This approach sets the stage for productive meetings and avoids process conflicts. It allows team members to review topics in advance, form their own conclusions, and arrive prepared to share their opinions. This preparation can prevent issues like free riding, conformity, and deviants because everyone has their own ideas ready to contribute. Meetings can then focus on lively discussions about differing points of view, ultimately improving the team’s direction and outcomes.

Ensure Everyone is Heard

Avoid situations where individuals are overlooked or talked over during meetings. Sometimes, a few people dominate the discussion, making it hard for others to contribute. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to scan the room, paying attention to non-verbal cues like frustration, confusion, or boredom.

Take on the role of the attentive teacher who calls on students to ensure participation. Use your authority to ensure everyone has the chance to contribute. If you notice someone trying to speak but being talked over, intervene politely. For example, say, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I noticed Tim has something to say. I’d really like to hear his opinion.” This breaks the momentum and ensures all voices are heard.

Prevent Meetings from Being Hijacked

It’s common for discussions to veer off-topic, leading the meeting away from its intended purpose. While this can sometimes be beneficial, it often leads to distraction and disengagement. Remember, people were called together for a specific purpose.

If the meeting's direction needs to change, stop the meeting and inform everyone that you will reconvene after considering the change’s impact. If the purpose remains the same, ask team members to set aside the off-topic issue for later discussion. Keeping discussions focused ensures the team stays on task and addresses the most important topics.

Define the Type of Meeting in Advance

I’ve found that it helps everyone involved to know what will be expected of them at the meeting. I break this down into two major categories.

Information Meetings: First, an information meeting is one in which people will be sharing and exchanging important information that they think other team members will need to know.  No decisions will be made at the meeting. This helps people stay in the right frame of mind. They will come more open to the meeting ready for a discussion. The thought process in the brain changes when you must evaluate ideas to make a decision. You start weighing ideas as good or bad and this can hinder your ability to openly hear and accept new ideas. For this purpose, no decisions should be made at an information meeting.

Decision Meetings: Second, a decision meeting is where leaders, or the team, will be expected to decide on a topic or topics. As mentioned earlier, the thought process changes when someone must make a decision. To free up as much brain power as possible, so that the best decision can be made, it helps to not discuss any other topics at a decision meeting. The only goal is to convey the information needed so that people can come to a decision. It can take quite a bit of discussion just to achieve this.

Conclusion

There is no single right way to assemble and lead a team. Teams are dynamic, and so are businesses. By being aware of these challenges and applying these solutions, you can create an environment where your team members are happy, engaged, and consistently delivering excellent work while achieving their goals.

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