Communicating Effectively in Teams
A collaborative team is a group of individuals who share a common belief and work toward common goals. Collaborative team members spend time discussing what they hope to fulfil as a team. They are made up of people with varying areas of expertise who share tasks, resources, responsibilities etc. Collaborative team members use collaborative skills. Team members encourage each other to interact and to take part in problem-solving and decision-making activities. They make decisions by consensus. They also focus time and energy on building positive relationships among team members. Collaboration is formed to deal with a complex issues. Generally, they are formed for problem-solving and task forces. Their tasks always happen crossfunctional. Then, they listen to each other advice actively and take a decision in a collaborative way. A cross-functional team includes people from finance, marketing, human resources department, etc.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Teams
Many organizations spend valuable resources developing teams within an organization. They often do so to bring together a group of qualified people and to work together. Although teams within an organization offer many benefits to a company, they also present many challenges.
Some benefits or advantages of a team are as follows:
- Increased information and knowledge: Team members have varieties of knowledge and information in diverse fields. By sharing with each other, they can foster their knowledge.
- Increased diversity of views: Different members have different knowledge. Knowing other views, they can increase their knowledge and hold diverse knowledge of different sectors.
- Increase acceptance of a solution: With team members’ general acceptance, the decision helps to reach in conclusion and the problem will be solved.
- Higher performance levels: Working as an individual doesn’t bring out good results as working in a group or team. Well organised teams help to accomplish the task with higher performance.
Like advantages, team working also has many disadvantages
- Groupthink: Sometimes, teams give different opinions on a task. So, fulfilment of work becomes delayed.
- Hidden Agendas: Some team members hold hidden agendas and undermined other ideas.
- Cost: Team invites meetings but conducting meetings, making schedules etc. are so costly.
Characteristics of Effective Teams
A team is formed to work or accomplish the task successfully. It is always goal-oriented and purposeful o succeed in the work effectively, team members should have a sense of confidence, st and be honest. They should have an inventive and creative minds to solve the challenges. In a team, there always happens interaction, discussion, motivation etc. w Ich is called group dynamics. Members of a team have various roles such as self-oriented roles (motivation for the self-fulfilment of personal needs), team maintenance roles (managing team) and task-oriented roles (work fulfilment).
Allowing for Team Evolution
Team evolve by taking specific goals and fulfilment of the task. Why does Team evolves, there are a few reasons:
- Orientation: Teams evolve to take general agreement (consensus) for the action.
They should socialize and define their goal to be established. They help to introduce and solve problems. - Conflict: The team is made to tackle or solve the conflict.
- Brainstorming: It is a creative mind making to deal with complex issues and find a conclusion for a specific problem. A collaborative team can make varieties of brainstorming. As a result, tasks will be handled effectively.
- Emergence: Some works should be finished urgently and effectively. So, teams are formed.
- Reinforcement: It is the process of encouraging or establishing a belief or pattern of behaviour. For those reasons, the team is organized.
Resolving Conflict
Conflict in a team appears due to different attitudes, personalities, habits, thinking, biasness, disagreement over goals, competition etc. Conflict can be positive or negative, constructive or destructive. In destructive conflict, one party can win (win-lose) or both parties get destructive results (lose-lose). In constructive conflict, when it ends, both parties can Win (win-win). For a win-win strategy to work, every member should follow the following:
- Both parties should be active to find solutions.
- Both parties should have co-operation.
- Believe each other.
- Donot impose anything forcefully.
Similarly, to resolve the conflicts, the following guidelines are really helpful:
- Proactive behaviour: It is related to putting an end to the conflict (in minor stage), so that it wilJ not take major issue.
- Communication: Be active and involve directly to solve the conflict.
- Openness: Be open (but not keep secret) to deal the matter.
- Research: To get factual reasoning and ways to solve the problem, you should make research,
- Flexibility: Do not insult or hate. Listen other ideas and respond honestly,
- Fair play: Allow all to give solution or to deal the problem.
- Alliance: If necessary, make alliances with others to overcome the conflict.
Overcoming Resistance
People do not want to change easily. To change there takes time. Conflict always happens among people if some want change and others do not allow themselves to change. Then, they make resistance to change. For protesters, you can persuade them with the following styles:
- Express understanding: You can persuade them personally in an emotive way. For example, you can say, “the change is difficult to follow if I were in your place but
- Bring resistance out into the open: You should address their resistance openly. Deal with them directly but you need not ask for excuses. You may say “You seem to be angry with me, have I made any mistake? but……..”
- Evaluate others’ objections fairly: Sometimes, they also speak the truth. So, you (the manager) should listen to and evaluate their ideas.
