Team Dynamics

Members of High-Performance teams need to understand team dynamics and take responsibility for channeling them in ways that are constructive and consistent with their vision. In an atmosphere of positive team dynamics, people feel safe and are free to be themselves, share ideas, and contribute to the team. Teams which do not understand and manage their dynamics often have an atmosphere of tension, mistrust, or conflict in which people close down, withhold their participation, and dread coming to work. Such teams, even though made up of good and talented people, will flounder.

Every team member needs to practice and become good at observing team dynamics and knowing what is going on within the team – that is, looking below the surface and understanding ways in which the team is working together, and ways in which it is not. If someone is aware that something is not right, then that person has a responsibility to help the team address the issue in constructive ways. To effectively address issues in teams, it is often necessary to go "below the surface" and talk about areas in which the team is not working well together. This can be done by calling a "process break" and discussing how the team is or isn't working together right now.

Until next time...

Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR
http://tools2succeed.com/