Is your team drowning in conflict?

Have you ever wondered why some people make life so much harder for themselves than it needs to be? Not only does this rob them of vital life-energy, it costs them a lot of happiness through lost harmony in their business and personal relationships.

What am I talking about?

Conflict. Nobody likes it, yet very few people know how to handle it, and it’s everywhere in our society. It’s inescapable.

Conflict! It's all over the place.
Conflict is not a bad thing in a team - it can lead to innovation and breakthrough -- but unresolved conflict can tear your team apart. It's not hard to work through conflict, but it takes effort.

The key effort being that you must deal with the issue, not the person. And because we are humans with lots of emotions, that makes it tough. We aren't the best at separting the issue from the person because it just mushes together in our minds.
 

Think for a second -- when have you recently experienced conflict? Now, I’m not talking about a knock-down, drag-out fist fight or screaming match.

• This could be as simple as someone at the office taking the last of the coffee…
• Or feeling your blood boil just a little bit as someone cut you off on the freeway…
• Or maybe your friends wanted Thai food last night and you wanted Italian…

These seeds of conflict invade our days in subtle ways, and build up over time to create resentment and frustration, which can drastically damage relationships, increase  stress levels and create a “culture of conflict” that negatively affects everyone…including YOU.

Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to minimize conflict, and transform it into cooperation and collaboration. You don’t have to live with it -- all it takes is a little knowledge, practice and skill. And you can learn now.

Growing And Sustaining A Virtual Team Takes Extra Effort

Ah, virtual teams. They’ve been around for quite some time, but are more common in this day and age when technology affords us the ability to work anywhere, any time of day. But it’s important to remember that virtual teams are made up up many different and diverse team members. And building that team into a cohesive unit can be a real chore. Here are some tactics you can implement to ensure your team is building in the right direction.

• Have regular team meetings. A weekly teleconference that everyone is required to attend goes a long way in bringing a virtual team together. Have a regular agenda and make sure you keep the meeting on track. You could alternate the meeting leadership to help every team member feel involved.

• Mix and match team members. As your company takes on new projects, don’t just keep the same old team members together to accomplish the new objectives. Look deep into your team and ensure you leverage the strengths of each and every team member. Give team members opportunities to work with people they’ve never met before.

• Stay in touch virtually. Send out a weekly email newsletters to let everyone on your team know what’s going on in the company. Conduct (at least) quarterly webinars to help team members stay in touch with the big picture of your company.

• Allow face-to-face interaction. Whenever possible and financially feasible for your company, get team members together face-to-face. There’s nothing that can cement a relationship faster and build a stronger team than pairing a face with a voice you’ve only known virtually.

Team Building - Top Ten Things, Ten Ways & 5 Simple Actions

Successful Team Building. Elusive? Maybe. Desired? Definitely. Challenging? Sure. But top class Team Building is what all great bosses do. Having a slick, smart, gung-ho team around you is the ingredient you need, to make your business or organisation really perform.
"The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are. They are frank in admitting this and are willing to pay for such talents."

~Amos Parrish

Yet why is it so challenging for many managers and leaders? What proves so difficult? Well, what we will do here is to try to tease out all the elements of how you go about easy Team Building.

 

Top Ten Things About Team Building

People who lead the best teams realise early on that they cannot run their business alone. It will either kill them or they will fail.

Here are some of the ways the very best set about Team Building...

1. Be Clear
-Great team leaders have expressed a very clear vision and with it simple expectations of their team.
2. Are Fair and Consistent
-They have one set of rules and one set only - for everyone including themselves. Everyone knows the acceptable behaviour and standards.
3. Delegate
-The best Team Building comes through sharing key workload, enabling team members to succeed, develop and deliver the result.
4. Leave Well Alone
-Leaders are very clear on what they want and then let go. They are not especially interested in how it is delivered, though they recognise the best results come from collaboration.
5. Provide Resources
-Great team leaders enhance the relationship with their team by ensuring that they have all they need to get the job done, whilst subtly alerting them to potential difficulties.
6. Give and Take Feedback
-In open and honest relationships all members of the team are willing to give each other support and feedback - including the leader. Both ways.
7. Blame No-one
-To truly enable a team of positive and willing contributors, risk is allowed! Using the phrase 'ask for forgiveness, not permission' a great team evolves. Delivering outstanding results.
8. Develop the Team
-Excellent Team Building comes from growing together and a top team leader's mission is to make that happen. Synergies are exploited, experiences are shared and above all team members are challenged and stretched to maximise achievements, in a place of safety.
9. Appreciate Individuals
-There are great individuals in great teams and the leaders job is to honour each and every one of them, whilst utilising those special, individual talents, in a co-creative team performance.
10. Celebrate Together
-And boy do those best at Team Building know how to make the most of success - ready for the next challenge!



Ten Ways to be Better at Team Building
 

1. Do Less
-Appreciate that leading a team is about giving way and letting others get on with it.
2. Communicate Well
-Keep in touch regularly. Keep your people informed and listen to them well. Ups and downs - if you do this, they will build their trust in you.
3. Be Interested in the People
-By creating a great team remember that they are all individuals too - they are real people who have differing needs from you. Appreciating that differentiates you as an exceptional team leader.
4. Choose Well
-The best time to choose a team is at the start. If you tolerate poor team members it is much, much harder to fix. So choose well. Recruit well. It's the best form of Team Building you can use.
5. Learn Together
-This is a concerted effort of co-operative learning - all together, including you - admit your shortfalls and they will support you. Support them and they will grow!
6. Review
-And as part of that learning, review progress regularly; appreciate if someone is struggling and encourage ways to learn and move on. Review the end result too Using what's been learned for the next project.
7. Be Open
-As leader you have an important role to make sure that the job gets done. Yet you are allowed to be open with them - to share your concerns and fears. It is OK to be human and within that emotional bond, you will all become a stronger team.
8. Allow Failure
-How you handle things when they do go wrong is a vital component in how your team will evolve and how you will evolve as a team leader. The outcome will be positive or more fear and doubt. As Charles Lindbergh said:-

    "What kind of man would live where there is no daring. I don't believe in taking foolish chances, but nothing can be accomplished without taking any chance at all"

9. Have Fun
-It's OK to have fun. A team leader walks a fine line between over-familiarity and easy business relationships. But it can be done - watch for signals and respond accordingly. At the same time enable laughter and joy. It is a strong bond.
10. Spread the Word
-When the team work is over, or if key people move on, rejoice in what they take from the experience with you. Encourage them to use their experience of Team Building with their new people and do it for themselves.



5 Simple Actions You Can Take Today!

-Watch how much depends on you as the boss. If it is hard - you need better team-working.
-Test yourself this week for things that 'only you can do'. Ask yourself, 'Is this really true?'. 'Is there no-one else I have on board who can help me here?'
-Find a great team (business; sport; whatever) and consider everything they needed to become as good as they are as a team.
-Find out what your team members would like to do that you do yourself. Asking them is the best and easiest way.
-Ask them what you could personally do differently that would enable them to do their jobs much better.
-One more! - checkout where the weaknesses are in your team - who is it that sucks energy from you (and others) - is it fixable or not. If not work out a humane way to resolve it fast.