You probably recognise the value of a team as a manager or leader but you may well be struggling to leverage the benefits of team working.
If that sounds like you, the chances are that one or more of the following contributors is leading to a lack of team working:
Contributor 1: Not building trust
Trust is really core to achieving anything on a team. It takes time, it takes effort and in truth is continual work in progress. If you want to get better results from team working, invest time and energy in building trust.
Contributor 2: Personal agendas
To get people to work together, you need to look to minimise the impact of people pursuing personal agendas. While you can still have areas of personal interest, it is vital in teams that personal agendas don’t have more focus that delivering results.
Contributor 3: Personal egos
We all like to get our point across, be seen as important and playing a key role. The trouble is that if a few people start to focus on their personal egos and massaging their egos, this becomes more important than results.
Contributor 4: Gloom and doom
Some people are naturally optimistic while others are more pessimistic. It is of course important to maintain a sense of balance but, if you have people who focus excessively on the negatives, nothing happens. When nothing happens, people disengage and become demotivated.
Contributor 5: The control freak
You might have come across the control freak. You know, the person who wants to be involved in everything and is unwilling to delegate or empower others. If that’s you, being alert to this and taking action to minimise impact can make a huge difference.
The Bottom Line: Successful team working is as much about avoiding the traps as it is doing the right things. So what do you need to do to improve team working?
Duncan Brodie helps accountants and other professional people to get great results through teams. He invites you to check out his free resources available here