Stephen Covey, one of the North American gurus on leadership and people management, says that " the strengths are in our differences not in our similarities." We stay with this phrase to point out some questions about the management of work teams.
Teamwork is an increasingly common practice, however some companies are reluctant to use it because they have had bad experiences or because they consider that the working environment they have does not advise applying this work system.
Although there are business departments or work units in which the teams are permanent, in many other cases the formation of work teams is usually carried out to carry out projects that have a defined duration and a clear objective.
For them to function correctly, an initial effort must be made in the selection of team participants, trying to find technical balance and maximum complementarity to generate synergies, but taking into account that complementary people are in turn different.
Once this point is reached, the company must worry that the team created has sufficient motivation to carry out its work with creativity and efficiency. For this, it will be necessary to ensure that there is transparent and fluid communication and an environment that encourages the participation of all team members.
So far everything sounds very nice, however, the management of a work team implies the management of conflicts between its members. Here the role of the team leader or coordinator will be essential, who must analyze the conflicts and take the appropriate measures so that the team works as planned.
Conflicts can be of a very diverse nature, from negative to positive. The negatives can be generated by a single person in the group, a saboteur who can refuse to participate or who can dedicate himself to criticizing the opinions of others without arguments, not performing his tasks on time, harming the group, etc…
It can also be the case that the group disagrees with the objectives of the company or that it has been poorly formed from the beginning and there are multiple confrontations between its members.
As we say, in this case it must be the leader who acts decisively for its resolution, taking into account both the achievement of the objectives and the good harmony of the organization, which in many cases can be very complicated.
However, conflicts can also be positive, since they can be intellectual conflicts, based on solid arguments, etc… In this case, the leader must take advantage of the conflict to direct it towards creativity. You should minimize the generation of sterile and eternal debates and identify the common points to obtain creative solutions that satisfy the interests of the group.
Once these phases have been successfully overcome, we will have taken an important step for the group to work in an organized and results-oriented manner.
