Tag Archives: Teamwork

Does your team function as a team?

Categories: Management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Does your team function as a team?

There are many types of company structures, and many ways to play politics in any of these structures. There is always jealousy, resentment, competition, greed, and arguments. The question is, how do you get your team to function as a team?

Sometimes I feel that the people who work for me function as separate individuals and have very little positive interaction with each other. Often times they just don’t like each other. When you combine bad chemistry with territorial types, you end up with a lot of trouble. Should you hire people because you feel they will do a good job or do you hire people who will blend in with your other workers?

Bad interactions between even two workers can ruin your company culture and fill the air with a bad vibe. On the other hand, if people work more remotely, it might not matter as much if people don’t get along. Assessing the damage of bad internal relationships is not easy. What really matters is how the customers feel. If they interact well with your staff, that is yet another set of relationships to consider. In a perfect world, we would all get along with each other, but on planet earth, we need to optimize our relationship structures!

For me, honestly, there are too many variables. Just to find someone who can function at all is a huge challenge. If you pair that with company culture and internal relationship issues, it is more than I can even think about.

If your team doesn’t function as a team, sometimes talking it over just doesn’t help. Certain people just don’t like each other and there is no remedy. Sometimes talking it over just submerges people’s hostility until it blows up in your face at a later date.

Tweets:
(1) Should you hire people because you feel they will do a good job or do you hire people who will blend in with your other workers?
(2) There are many types of company structures, and many ways to play politics in any of these structures.

You might also like:

The magic of collaboration
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/29/the-magic-of-collaboration/

Steve Jobs watched his programmers carefully — so should you!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/10/steve-jobs-watched-his-programmers-carefully-so-should-you/